Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Rookish

adj.
feeling a vague longing for some sort of monarch to look down upon us from a high and distant castle, which you’d imagine would pacify the squabbling chaos of civic life and drastically narrow the range of choices and issues you have to think about, finally freeing you up from bearing the microscopic fraction of a crown that forever hangs over your head.

From the chess move of castling, which is when a rook rushes to protect the king, nearly swapping places with him.

La Cuna

Cover image for the La Cuna word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Hobsmacked

Cover image for the Hobsmacked word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Elsing

Cover image for the Elsing word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Feresy

Cover image for the Feresy word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows