bootlegging
Importing alcohol illegally; common during Prohibition when alcohol was outlawed.
chador
A cloak-like garment worn by Muslim women to follow hijab.
consanguinity
The property of being related by blood to someone else.
Crohn's disease
An inflammatory bowel disease where the body's immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract, causing abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.
deracinated
Uprooted.
deus ex machina
Greek for "god out of the machine," deus ex machina is a plot device in which an improbable or impossible event happens to save the protagonist or give the story a happy ending.
epiphenomenon
A secondary phenomenon that accompanies a first one.
homunculus
In the Preformation theory, a miniature, fully formed person carried within a sperm. This person then matures in their mother's womb.
inimical
Unfriendly, harmful, hostile.
koumbaros
The religious sponsor in a Greek Orthodox wedding. They perform several functions, including the exchanging of the rings and the stephana.
kukla
The Greek word for "doll." Lefty used to use it as a term of endearment towards Desdemona.
lubricity
Slipperiness or lewdness.
mavros
The Greek word for black. Desdemona refers to her employers this way.
minotaur
A Greek legend about a woman who fell in love with a bull and had a child with the body of a human and the head of a man. That child, the minotaur, was locked in a maze and fed Greek youths.
nictating membrane
A thin membrane, or inner or third eyelid, present in many animals, capable of being drawn across the eyeball for protection.
presbyopic
A medical condition wherein the eyes lose their ability to focus on nearby objects.
rebetika
Greek folk music.
stephana
Greek wedding crowns that the bride and groom wear; they are tied together by a ribbon and then interchanged three times.
suppine
Lying down on one's back facing up.
zurna
A Turkish wind instrument.
