trenchant

My sister had a trenchant way of cutting our bread-and-butter for us, that never varied.

Well thanks a lot, Charles Dickens. I mean, I was able to infer the meaning of trenchant in context, but the fact that there were two words on the same page of Great Expectations that I couldn't imagine using in a sentence unless I really sat down to flush out their meaning was enough to make me want to start a running list of things you were teaching.

Add to this list: "wittles." I mean, come on. What the hell? As it turns out, you meant "victuals", the incredible edibles, but I'm not going to give that one its own post because you used the lower-class slang pronunciation just to throw me for a loop.

Trenchant, for those of you still keeping score, means forceful or vigorous. It stems from the Middle French word, trenchier, meaning to cut.

Now cut it out.

disconsolately

My thoughts strayed from that question as I looked disconsolately at the fire.

I have a feeling that Pip Pirrup is about to teach me a lot about living in a cheerless state such as Victorian London, but his gloom renders him terrified at the idea of dealing with the fugitive who awaits him in the churchyard.

Seriously, this is a word I should have already known, but I can't recall for the life of me whether or not I've ever put it to use before now. Such is my mission tomorrow, though I hope it's not a day to be disconsolate.