Definition

1. to attack violently: assult
2. to encounter, undertake, or confront energetically
3. to oppose, challenge, or criticize harshly and forcefully
4. to trouble or afflict in a manner that threatens to overwhelm
5. to be perceived by (a person, a person’s senses, etc.) in a strongly noticeable and usually unpleasant way

(Ref: Merriam-Webster Online, Word of the day, 29 May 2020)

Use it in a sentence

[This is a true story – unfortunately, or fortunately, depending very much upon your attitude, it contains more toilet humour. It’s also a teensy bit longer than usual.]

The Galleria Alberto Sordi is a very glitzy, high-end shopping and restaurant arcade in the heart of Rome. The sort of shopping arcade overloaded with glass decoration, columns, lofty ceilings, mosaic floors, and very expensive stores. It also has a lovely clean public toilet that you can use for 1 Euro. That’s where my cousin and I headed, in our tourist uniforms and comfortable footwear.

There was a short line up of women waiting to use the cubicles and we joined the queue. A cleaning woman held court. There was nothing of the subjugated about her. This was her domain, and she ruled it with a polite but firm hand. She was neatly dressed, her was hair tied back and her face made up, and she directed traffic just as well as any policeman. My cousin and I spoke some Italian, so what unfolded next was hilarious to us, but not everyone in the line understood exactly what was going on, even though they could probably guess to some extent.

An Italian lady at the back of the queue brushed past a couple of tourists and approached the cleaning woman. Before anyone could protest, she tipped her head to one side and, pleading, hands outstretched, asked the cleaning woman in Italian, ‘Listen, I’m desperate, can I just use the disabled cubicle please?’ The cleaning woman nodded curtly, ‘ok’.

The lady’s relief was palpable, ‘Oh thank you!’ She headed in. After a few minutes, she came out, sighing dramatically, and thanked the cleaning woman again. She headed towards the mirrors and fussed with her hair. The cleaning woman nodded in acknowledgement and then turned and reopened the door to the disabled cubicle. Immediately, she was assailed, overwhelmed in fact, by a ghastly smell that vaguely wafted down the line. She shut it again quickly and turned to the woman who was still preening in the mirror, incredulous. Her eyes were wide, her brow furrowed. In disbelief, she asked the lady, ‘What creature did you give birth to in there? I do you a favour and that,’ she pointed in disgust to the disabled cubicle, ‘is the present you leave me?’ She angrily shook her head, ranting about how she’d just cleaned it and now it was a disgusting mess again.

The lady at the mirror barely flinched. In fact, as she walked out serenely, she shrugged apologetically but without remorse, and said ‘It’s a toilet! What can you do?’

My cousin and I were crying with laughter, still waiting our turn. I thought to myself, there’s the Italian character right there, in those two women. Self-confident and unapologetic.

Definition

1. Incapable of being intimidated or subdued: fearless, undaunted

(Ref: Merriam-Webster Online, Word of the day, 20 January 2020)

Use it in a sentence

The boy threw another stone at the yapping dog next door, trying to make him stop, but knowing the neighbour would come charging out any minute. On cue, the back door was flung open and he saw his neighbour’s face. It was contorted in anger, rage. Even at a distance, the boy could see the veins, sea blue, throbbing at his temple, in his forearms, fists clenched.

Perhaps he’d gone too far. But he wanted, needed, that dog to stop barking.

‘Hey!’ Sharp. Voice deep. The neighbour came striding over to glare at him over the low fence. ‘What the fuck are you doing, kid? Why are you pelting stones at my dog?’ He pointed to the long-haired mutt who stared dolefully at him. Silent. Maybe guilty. He’d stopped barking the minute the door opened.

The boy was dauntless in the way that only 10-year-old boys could be. ‘He barks too much.’

The neighbour eyeballed him. ‘He bloody well does not. And even if he did, you can’t just throw stones at him’.

‘The barking makes my mum cry.’

‘What?’

‘Mum’s sick. The barking makes her cry.’

The neighbours face suddenly softened, and he unclenched his fists. In a slightly less gruff voice, he asked, ‘What’s wrong with her?’

The boy didn’t answer.

The neighbour lingered for a moment. ‘Listen, sorry about your mum. But,’ he said, jabbing a finger at the boy, ‘stop throwing stones.’ He turned and whistled sharply for the dog who went bounding inside after him.

The boy turned to go inside too, satisfied.

Definition

1. to subjugate or persecute by harsh use of troops
2. to force into submission or compliance especially by violent measures

(Ref: Merriam-Webster Online, Word of the day, 7 January 2020)

Use it in a sentence

The bride-to-be, Tabitha, whooped as she held up her champagne flute, screamed again, louder still, and then sculled her drink. Her hot pink, strapless dress had crept a little too far south and one of her three bridesmaids made an effort to hug her affectionately and hoist it up a little without her noticing. Tabitha was a little volatile. It was wiser for them to just laugh along in mock hysteria and encourage her to cut loose on the dance floor, whilst keeping a careful eye on her cleavage. Her bridesmaids had been dragooned into this sham of a Hen’s night. None of them felt like being festive or congratulative. They exchanged looks, sipped their vodka, lime and sodas and, waited for Tabitha to burn herself out.

The truth was that none of them particularly liked the groom-to-be. The Stag. Capital ‘S’. Because he had an ego like antlers and he often thrashed them about, trying to start fights. The bridesmaids sighed. They had bickered among themselves, about whether to say something or leave it. Tabitha knew, or at least sensed, that they didn’t like him, but said nothing in his defence.

By the end of the night though, none of them had to say anything. Propped up against the bar in the last place open at 4am, they crossed paths with the stag party. And there was the groom-to-be, pashing a skinny redhead like his life depended on it. Tabitha froze for a moment. When he slid a hand up the girl’s thigh she let out an almighty scream, and hurled her purse at him. She followed the purse with a glass of wine snatched off a table. She picked up a bottle too but her posse stepped in, wrestled the bottle from her hand and gently pulled her away from the scene. They shook their heads at each other but frankly they were all rather pleased.

And like that, the wedding was off.