Wondrous Words Wednesday 30

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy at the Bermuda Onion where you "can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. Feel free to get creative!"
 

Some random words from a Georgette Heyer book, because I want to do something fun this week ...

The house itself, now that she saw it in the daylight, she found to be a beautiful building, two hundred years old, with chamfered windows, and tall chimneys. 

chamfer verb \ˈcham(p)-fər, ˈcham-pər\

1:  to cut a furrow in (as a column), make a groove

2:  to make a chamfer on, make a bevel

Origin: back-formation from chamfering, alteration of Middle French chanfreint, from past participle of chanfraindre to bevel, from chant edge (from Latin canthus iron tire) + fraindre to break, from Latin frangere First Known Use: 1567

chamfer noun

1:  a beveled edge 

First Known Use: circa 1847

So, a beveled window ?  There is a bunch of stuff out there claiming to be chamfered but I think, based on the description in the book, we are talking about something like this ...

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They were interrupted. 'There had ought to be the hatchment up over the door," said Barrow severely.

hatchment /ˈhaCHmənt/

1: A large tablet, typically diamond-shaped, bearing the coat of arms of someone who has died, displayed in their honor.
Origin: early 16th century: probably from obsolete French hachement, from Old French acesmement 'adornment'.

I have noticed the some books seem to confuse hatchment with the crape display traditionally put up on the door, so I wanted to sort this out in my mind. Hatchment is the heraldry on a diamond shape and obviously not everyone would have that to display.

funerary hatchment of John Marsden (probably) who died 1826. St Margaret, Hornby 

Funeral crape would be the black ribbons and heavy, crinkly fabric draped around the door and windows, and the wreath or badge of crape on the door. The knocker in particular is supposed to be covered up - white ribbons would be used to tie the crape if a child had died, otherwise both the ribbons and the fabric would be black. Pretty much anyone could do this.

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"I will make you a panada presently," she said. 'You will like that, sir."
 
"Shall I?" he asked doubtfully.  

panada \pə-ˈnä-də\

noun

:  A paste or gruel of bread crumbs, toast, or flour combined with milk, stock, or water and used for making soups, binding forcemeats, or thickening sauces.

:  a paste of flour or bread crumbs and water or stock used as a base for sauce or a binder for forcemeat or stuffing 

: A dish consisting of bread boiled to a pulp and flavored.  

Origin: Spanish, from pan bread, from Latin panis First Known Use: circa 1598

So what the heck is forcemeat?

forcemeat  \ˈfȯrs-ˌmēt\

noun

:  finely chopped and highly seasoned meat or fish that is either served alone or used as a stuffing —called also farce

Back to the panada  ... 

From Wikipedia "In British cuisine, it may be flavored with sugar, Zante currants, nutmeg, and so on. A version of panada was a favorite dish of the author Percy Bysshe Shelley who was a vegetarian. Mentions of this dish included bread, water and nutmeg."

The British Magazine for December 1762

I agree with Nick, I am somewhat doubtful as well.  And it would help enormously if Google would stop 'helping' and insisting that I am searching for panda! 

Happy Wednesday!