fettle

fettle \FET-l\, noun:

A state or condition of fitness or order; state of mind; spirits -- often used in the phrase "in fine fettle."

Aside from the problems with her voice . . . Miss Garland was in fine fettle last night.
-- Vincent Canby, "Judy Garland Sets the Palace Alight", New York Times, August 1, 1967

Back in 1987, the Conservatives won a thumping majority in a June general election, primarily because the economy was seen by grateful voters to be in fine fettle.
-- Larry Elliott, "Danger of a recurring nightmare", The Guardian, June 18, 2001

Many of the nuns were in fine fettle, even into their 80s and 90s.
-- John McCrone, "Sisters of mercy", The Guardian, August 18, 2001

He seems in fine fettle when we meet, and happy to discuss the film that gave him his break.
-- Charlotte O'Sullivan, "Naked ambition", The Guardian, February 7, 1999

Fettle is from Middle English fetlen, "to set in order," originally "to gird up," from Old English fetel, "a girdle."

verbiage

verbiage \VUR-bee-ij\, noun:

1. An overabundance of words; wordiness.
2. Manner or style of expression; diction.

The sheer volume of verbiage he has expelled over eight years is enough to make John Updike look blocked.
-- Andrew Sullivan, "Sounds of Silence", New Republic, January 15, 2001

Points like these seem so self-evident as not to merit much repeating, but in the professional literature they appear all the time, slightly dressed up in academic verbiage.
-- Michael Barrett, "The Case for More School Days", The Atlantic, November 1990

She also indulged in flowery verbiage that her classmates called "H.D." for "heightened diction."
-- John Habich, "Mother Country", Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 25, 2001

Verbiage comes from French, ultimately from Latin verbum, "word."

panache

panache \puh-NASH; -NAHSH\, noun:

1. Dash or flamboyance in manner or style.
2. A plume or bunch of feathers, esp. such a bunch worn on the helmet; any military plume, or ornamental group of feathers.

Dessert included a marvelous bread pudding and a fair bananas Foster,the old-time New Orleans dish, which was prepared with great panache tableside, complete with a flambé moment.
-- Eric Asimov, "New Orleans, a City of Serious Eaters.", New York Times, July 4, 1999

It is... an inevitable hit, a galvanizing eruption of energy, panache and arrogantly sure-footed stage craft that comes at a time when theatrical dance is in the doldrums.
-- Terry Teachout and William Tynan, "Seamy and Steamy.", Time, January 25, 1999

Although Black didn't have many friends and was not among the school's leaders, he was likeable, had panache, and his contemptuous tirades were rarely taken at face value.
-- Richard Siklos, Shades of Black: Conrad Black and the World's Fastest Growing Press Empire

Panache is from the French, from Medieval French pennache, from Italian pinnacchio, feather, from Late Latin pinnaculum, diminutive of penna, feather. It is related to pen, a writing instrument, originally a feather or quill used for writing.

capitulate

capitulate \kuh-PICH-uh-layt\, intransitive verb:

To surrender under agreed conditions.

Just before peace talks on Kosovo are due to resume, the United States and its allies are sending contradictory signals to Belgrade, making it less likely that President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia will capitulate on American terms.
-- Steven Erlanger, "West's Bosnia Move May Hurt Kosovo Bid", New York Times, March 7, 1999

I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

We say "capitulate" because the terms (of surrender) were drawn up in capitula, which is Latin for "chapters." Chapter itself is related to capitulate.

edify

edify \ED-uh-fy\, transitive verb:

To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach.
--edifying, adjective

In their tour, the judges saw some of the more edifying spots on the Internet
-- "Second Federal Panel Declares C.D.A. [the Communications Decency Act] Unconstitutional", New York Times, July 30, 1996

They viewed what edifying sights the coastal towns offered, including a fascinating zoo.
-- Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams

Just what depth of woods is required to edify, modify and/or enlighten a person in the way that we know a stay within an unguarded, ongoing, wild wood can?
-- Charles Siebert, "Found in the Woods", New York Times Magazine, June 6, 1999

Edify is from Old French edifier, from Latin ædifico, ædificare, to build.

melee

melee \MAY-lay; may-LAY\, noun:

1. A fight or hand-to-hand struggle in which the combatants are mingled in one confused mass.
2. A confused conflict or mingling.

In another incident, two staff members required stitches from a melee that ensued from their attempts to confiscate a razor blade found in the sock of a boy who had just arrived from another facility.
-- James Garbarino, Lost Boys

The accident sparked a general melee, people smashing things just for the satisfaction of watching glass fly.
-- Dorothy Allison, Cavedweller

I was relieved when, apparently unaware of this tradition, the Harasis bedouin unceremoniously dug in, the dread orbs disappearing in a melee of hungry hands.
-- Nicholas Clapp, The Road to Ubar

Melee is from the French mêlée, from the past participle of Old French mesler, "to mix," ultimately from Latin miscere, "to mix." It is related to medley, "a jumbled assortment; a mixture."

numismatics

numismatics \noo-miz-MAT-iks; -mis-; nyoo-\, noun:

the collection and study of money (and coins in particular).

If [the modern counterfeiter] is satisfied with a so-so product, perhaps hoping to pass it in a crowded fast-food restaurant or in a saloon's dim light, he can download images of genuine bills from the Internet, simply by getting access to the Web site of a numismatics club, then run off his own bills.
-- "Officials Wary of Wave of Computer Counterfeiters", New York Times, March 12, 1998

Numismatics...is, in the main, an auxiliary to the knowledge of the trade and mutual intercourse of the ancients.
-- J. Leitch

Numismatics ultimately derives from the Greek nomos, a custom or convention, which has the derivative nomisma, anything sanctioned by custom, especially the current State coin. It can also refer to the study and collection of medals.