Page 183 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Essential Vocabulary
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parboil (PAR boyl) vt. 1. partially boil to cut down on final cooking time, usually
as a precursor to roasting; 2. to make uncomfortably hot; overheat
• Frozen vegetables are parboiled for a minute or more before freezing—a
process known as blanching.
• Saunas are excellent places for parboiling people.
[-ed, -ing]
parch (PARCH) vi. 1. to expose to great heat; 2. to dry up from heat; make hot
and dry; 3. to make or be very thirsty
• The peppers were parched by their stint on the grate of the charcoal grill.
• Tomatoes are often parched by sun-drying, which both wrinkles them up
and intensifies their flavor.
• After two hours in the boat, Roxane was parched and reached for a bottle of
iced tea.
[-ed, -ing]
parenthetical (PAR in THE ti kl) adj. 1. contained in parentheses; 2. interjected
as explanatory or qualifying information; 3. using or containing parentheses
• The source of the article was parenthetical.
• Hailee was a very talented artist, and the parenthetical inclusion of her age,
five, was just for the viewers’ information.
• Often, as in the last sentence and in this one, parenthetical information is
enclosed between commas.
pariah (puh RY uh) n. 1. an undesirable; one despised and rejected by others;
an outcast; 2. a member of the lowest social caste in India
• The pariahs in India comprise a caste known as “the untouchables.”
• The soldiers returning home from the Vietnam War were treated as pariahs
by much of the American public.
parish (PA rish) n. 1. an administrative district of many churches; 2. the mem-
bers of the congregation of any church; 3. in Louisiana, the equivalent of a county
in any other state
• A British local government’s territory is often identical with the size of the
original church parish.
• On any given Sunday, about half the members of the parish show up for
church.
• In Louisiana, the state is carved into local parishes that are equivalent to
counties in all the other states.