One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.
These interesting words were found in S.C. Butler's Reiffen's Choice.
boom: any of various more-or-less horizontal spars or poles used to extend the foot of a sail or for handling cargo or in mooring
bootblack: a person who polishes shoes and boots
floe: a flat mass of ice (smaller than an ice field) floating at sea
gunwale: wale at the top of the side of boat; topmost planking of a wooden vessel
tiller: lever used to turn the rudder on a boat
wizarding: magic, a spell; though the word is made-up, I thought it well-used: "He gathered the tempest's power into himself, to use in the wizarding he would employ to take them away."
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