Elegiac (pg. 44 ) -- expressing sorrow often for something now past.
Otiose (pg. 116 ) -- 1. being at leisure; idle; indolent. 2. ineffective or futile. 3. superfluous or useless.
Plangent (pg. 176 ) -- Having an expressive and especially plaintive quality.
MIke Magnuson (pg. ) -- Author of Lummox.
Valsalvian reaction (pg. ) -- "When a person forcefully expires against a closed glottis, changes occur in intrathoracic pressure that dramatically affect venous return, cardiac output, arterial pressure, and heart rate. This forced expiratory effort is called a Valsalva maneuver." From Cardiovascular Physiology Concepts by Richard E. Klabunde, Ph.D.
Thurls (pg. ) -- The hip joint in cattle.
Baudelaire (pg. 233) -- French poet/writer, symbol of literary decadence.
Derrida (pg. 242) -- French philosopher, founder of deconstruction. Died 2004.
Ameliorism (pg. 251) -- "Meliorism" is the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment, so adding an "a" must make it the opposite.
Sequelae (pg. 254) -- A secondary result, sequel.
Smoked redhorse (pg. 273) -- A kind of fish.