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Defining Dulcie now available
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dulcie morrigan jones lexicon

In Defining Dulcie, Dulcie shares a great love of words and dictionaries with her father. In an early draft of the novel, Dulcie even created her own handmade dictionary which was to appear as an appendix to the book. For lots of reasons, it made sense to leave it out. You'll find Dulcie's lexicon below for your enjoyment. One more note about dictionaries and lexicons: the terrific novel, Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Phillbrick incorporates a handmade dictionary as an important part of an extraordinary story. If you haven't read it, you really should!

The Dulcie Morrigan Jones Lexicon

Accident: An event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; from the Latin, accidere, which means ‘to happen.’ With that kind of definition, anything that can possibly happen is an accident.

Algebra: A branch of mathematics in which concepts, both known and unknown, are represented by letters of the alphabet. It’s another language.

America: A great big country named after the mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci. I always wish he called it Vespucci-land. In any case, Amerigo never visited America.

Anne: My mother’s name. From the Hebrew Channah which means "favour" or "grace." Maybe from the Gaelic Aine, the Celtic fairy queen said to steal a human life around mid-summer each year. I vote for the Hebrew.

Apple pie: A pie made of – you guessed it – apples. It is often associated with mothers and a large country named after an Italian mapmaker.

Aretha: Aretha Franklin; the Queen of soul.

Astrid Lindgren: Author of over one hundred books. Her most famous books were about Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking, aka Pippi Longstocking.

Atlas: A book or bound collection of maps; also in Greek mythology the very large individual condemned by Zeus to support the heavens upon his shoulders.

Beatles: John, Paul George and Ringo. The Fab four. They love you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brown: The color of Nevada.

California: Name of a fictional earthly paradise; also the 31st state to join the union.

Cannellini: A variety of bean.

Capricious: Characterized by or subject to whim, unpredictable impulses, and other apparently goat-like behavior.

Carhenge: The recreation of Stonehenge, fashioned from American-made automobiles and located in Alliance, Nebraska.

Cemetery: A nice place to take a long nap.

Charter Oak: Connecticut state tree; a good place to hide things.

Cheese-food: It's not cheese, but it is food.

Child abuse: The physical or emotional or sexual mistreatment of children.

Connecticut: Indian word referring to a big river; the 5th state; state motto is Qui Transtulit Sustinet, Latin for ‘He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.’ (My mother made me include the motto in this definition.)

Cordate: Heart-shaped

Cordiform: Heart-shaped

Cornflake: Dry, bland, crispy pieces of processed food that turn to mush when touched by milk.

Courgette: Zucchini, a vegetable with heart!

Crocodile: Large aquatic reptile into which one should not stick his or her hand.

Dictionary: If you really want to know, go look it up.

Docent: A lecturer or tour guide in a museum or cathedral.

Donut: Edible piece of heaven.

Drano: One of the milder poisons stored in school buildings all across America.

Drydock: A structure used for the examination, repairing, or building of boats and ships.

Dulcie: A very sweet girl.

Dysphoric: To have a generalized feeling of distress or unhappiness.

Easy-bake oven: A plastic box containing a very hot lighbulb.

Elvis: The King.

Eubrontes Giganteus: a mid-sized bipedal predatory creature, which sounds a little like my mother, but is actually the Connecticut state dinosaur.

Euphoric: Feeling great happiness or well-being.

Excoriate: To wear off the skin of; to censure scathingly.

Fainting goat: A goat that faints (what did you think it was?)

Frank: Marked by free, forthright, and sincere expression.

Free Verse: lines of poetry usually without regular rhyme or consistent rhthym.

Gaff banner: A banner promising a world of wonders and a plethora of famous attractions.

Geodetic: It’s like geographic, but it’s different.

Geographic: It’s like geodetic, but it’s different.

Ghost: The soul of a man; the spirit of a dead person; a returning or haunting image. Memory.

Goat: See wolf snack.

Gollywhomper: Something that is really big. Slang phrase made famous by Connecticut raconteurs Hilton Cadderly and Phil DuTremble.

Grace: Ease and suppleness of movement or bearing; a virtue coming from God; an act of kindness; mercy, as in the compassionate treatment of those in distress.

Grazie: Italian thank you.

Green: The color of Connecticut in summer.

Hairdresser: The most valuable and important job in America (Love you, Mom.)

Homunculus: the little person pulling the levers inside your head. (That should be you.)

Hope: To look forward with confidence and trust.

Hopper: A deep, round pond formed when a big chunk of ice breaks off a glacier. The weight of the glacier forces the ice down, down, down into the earth. When it melts, the sides of the hole collapse to form a pond that is narrow at the bottom and wide at the top; also, a funnel.

Illinois: The prairie state.

Indiana: Hoosier state. What is a Hoosier?

Industrial accident: An unexpected and undesirable event that happens in the workplace.

Iron: A metal appliance with a handle and a weighted flat bottom, used when heated to press wrinkles from fabric; not to be used for straightening out children.

Janitor: Maintenance man or doorkeeper. Named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. According to the Romans, Janus presided over all that is double-edged in life.

Johnny Appleseed: Johnny Appleseed spent 49 years of his life roaming the American wilderness and planting apple seeds.

Jones: An avid desire or appetite for something.

Kmart: A big mart.

Kansas: The Jayhawk state; state motto is Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties), but it could be Accedum Hic Nunc! (Step right up!)

Laramie: A nice place to visit even if you have to throw up.

Lavatory: You're supposed to pee there, not die there.

Legume: fancy word for bean.

Lexicon: Dictionary for words that are associated with a specific activity or theme.

Line: A real or imaginary mark positioned in relation to fixed points of reference; ray, verse; a sequence.

Megalith: A stone the size of a house.

Mini-mart: A little mart.

Mirrors: Sometimes they tell you who you are. Sometimes they tell you about your bed-head.

Mop: Implement made of absorbent material attached to a typically long handle and used for washing, dusting, or drying floors.

Morrigan: Celtic goddess of fertility and war.

Mother: See hairdresser.

Mustard gas: A chemical warfare agent introduced in World War I.

Naugahyde: Vinyl upholstery that is not manufactored in Naugatuck, Connecticut (even though my father used to tell me it was). A funny word.

Nebraska: From an Oto Indian word meaning flat… they got that right

Nevada: A Spanish word meaning snowcapped. Maybe the Spanish should have asked the Oto Indians (see Nebraska) for help with the naming thing.

Noah Webster: Builder of the American dictionary.

Non sequitor: A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it; a reply that has no relevance.

Ohio: The Buckeye State. But the state flower is not the buckeye. It’s the carnation. Go figure.

Parent: One who begets, gives birth to, or nurtures and raises a child. Note: the last two tasks are more important than the first two if you intend to apply for the job.

Peperoncino: Dried, crushed red peppers, usually hot, used in cooking.

Pickup truck: Descendant of the horse and cart. Cousin of the station wagon. No relation to the minivan.

Pizza: See donut.

Plankton: Microscopic animals and plants that live and drift near the surface of salt or fresh waters. Plankton serve as food for fish and other larger organisms. From plagto, the Greek word for wandering

Plunger: It looks like a scepter, but it's not.

Postcard: Really slow three-dimensional email.

Prayer: Anything we say to God. Hopefully she’s listening.

Praying mantis: Connecticut’s state bug. (Do lawmakers not have enough to do?)

Prodigal: Reckless, extravagant, outrageous, profuse, prodigious.

Puke: To eject the contents of the stomach. To vomit. To spew.

Question: A means by which both conversation and learning can occur.

Ray: Sunbeam, radiance, a column of light, an arm of a starfish, an unusual sea creature (i.e. manta ray, sting ray, devil ray, skate), a straight line, and, for Sound of Music fans, a drop of golden sun.

Relic: An object kept for its association with the past, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of a saint.

Reliquary: A fancy box used to hold relics.

Roxanne: Girl’s name. From the Persian word for dawn.

Scepter: It looks like a plunger, but it's not.

Shangri-la: Name of a fictional earthly paradise.

Sheep: See wolf snack.

Snoopy: The smartest dog in the universe. A gift to the world from Mr. Charles Schultz.

Stonehenge: A huge ring of Druid megaliths that’s been sitting in the middle of a field in England for thousands and thousands of years.

Sutri: Town in Italy famous for beans that do not give gas. Really.

Syzygy: In astronomy, alignment of three bodies of the solar system along a straight or nearly straight line.

Ted Williams: The splendid splinter.

Three-on-the-tree: A three-speed manual transmission in which the shift lever is mounted on the steering column.

True cross: The crucifix on which Jesus died.

Utah: The 45th state, known as the Beehive State.

Vinegar: A multi-purpose cleaning solution.

Walmart: REALLY big mart.

Weasel: A funny word; funny mammal too. Don’t let a monkey chase it around a mulberry bush.

Where the Wild Things Are: An award-winning analytical treatise by Maurice Sendak examining the normal behavior of children.

Wikipedia: An online encyclopedia (and a really funny word!)

Wizard of Oz: A movie that begins and ends in Kansas.

Wolf snack: See goat or sheep.

Wyoming: In 1869, Wyoming women became the first in the nation to vote. Go Wyoming!

X: the third letter in ‘Roxanne.’ (I couldn’t think of anything else.)

Yahtzee: Rhymes with grazie.

Zorastrian: A combination of the root words astro (stars) and Zoro (legendary sword fighter) to indicate the constellation that looks like one of the three musketeers... okay, not really. But I had you there for a minute!