Follow Friday #17

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee. This week's question is...

Q: What is the BIGGEST word you've seen used in a book lately - that made you stop and look it up? Might as well leave the definition and book, too.

Ohmygoodness, I love big words. The complicated, fancy, never-used words. Like Ornethology - the study of birds. Well, actually, that is used - it was the name of an after-school choir at our school one time. Not really a book.
ANYWAYS. Onto my answer. Umm... I know so many words that I rarely have to look them up. (How can I not apply these words to my writing?!)
One of my favorites (I have this on my little dictionary, which is really a bunch of useless words/definitions I typed up on a wordpad document) is MACHICOLATIONS.

MACHICOLATIONS -
an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath. (n.)


I found this in Eragon, a little less than a year ago. Around last January. Kinda long ago, but still a really cool, really useless word.

And to elaborate, a machicolation is that hole where medieval peoples would pour boiling oil/water/something similar on invading enemies below, if the enemies managed to make it past the main defence. This usually refers to castles: as in, if an enemy made it over the drawbridge and through that main gate, they'd pour something nasty on them from a hole in the ceiling to incapacitate and therefore kill them.

Don't I manage the funniest words. How many of you thought of this? What was your word? Leave a comment, I promise I don't bite people! :)