There are a handful of words in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road that I didn’t (or should I say didnt) know. And I suspected that some of them are made up by McCarthy. So, I searched a few ways for these words: in definr, dictionary.com, google, and wikipedia.

“He descended into a gryke in the stone…” (p11)

It’s an obscure geological term.

Found through google: reverso

gryke: n  a variant spelling of  grike

grike: n a solution fissure, a vertical crack about 0.5 m wide formed by the dissolving of limestone by water, that divides an exposed limestone surface into sections or clints

“Her nipples pipeclayed and her rib bones painted white.” (p18)

This one is pretty darn obscure, as well.

definr:

pipeclay (http://definr.com/pipeclay)

n : fine white clay used in making tobacco pipes and pottery and
in whitening leather [syn: terra alba]

dictionary.com:

Pipeclay
Pipe”clay`\, v. t. 1. To whiten or clean with pipe clay, as a soldier’s accouterments.

2. To clear off; as, to pipeclay accounts. [Slang, Eng.]

“China in a breakfront, cups hanging from their hooks.” (p21)

Apparently this really is a piece of furniture.

dictionary.com:

breakfront
adjective
1. (of a cabinet, bookcase, etc.) having a central section extending forward from those at either side.
noun
2. a cabinet or the like having such a front.
Origin:
1925-30; break + front

“…squatted and laved up the dark water.” (p38 plus p122, p147)

So, McCarthy decided to use the “obsolete” use of this word a bunch of times:

dictionary.com:

lave
verb, laved, laving.
verb (used with object)
1. to wash; bathe.
2. (of a river, sea, etc.) to flow along, against, or past; wash.
3. Obsolete. to ladle; pour or dip with a ladle.
verb (used without object)
4. Archaic. to bathe.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME laven, partly < OF laver < L lavāre to wash; partly repr. OE lafian to pour water on, wash, itself perh. < L lavāre

wikipedia returned the entry for “washing” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laved)

“…the river was choked with great windrows of black limbs…”; “Piled in a windrow in one corner of the roomwas a great heap of clothing.” (p44, p107)

I guess this one works. It’s a stretch but that doesnt bother me. It’s called poetic license, isnt it?

dictionary.com:

windrow
noun
1. a row or line of hay raked together to dry before being raked into heaps.
2. any similar row, as of sheaves of grain, made for the purpose of drying.
3. a row of dry leaves, dust, etc., swept together by the wind.
verb (used with object)
4. to arrange in a windrow.
Origin:
1515–25; wind 1 + row 1

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