dregs - sediment found at the bottom of wine, tea, etc.draught 2 - a drink drawn from a barrel or storage jar.dour - stern, unyielding dour-handed steady-handed.dotard - a person who has lost their wits, especially through old age.doom - fate (as opposed to modern usage, doom in this sense is not necessarily bad).dingle - deep hollow, usually shaded with trees.devices - things, especially situations, devised or engineered.descry - catch sight of, especially something difficult to see.dearth - scarcity or shortage, especially of food.dastard - an ignoble and cowardly person.damask - steel and iron specially welded to make a serpentine pattern.cunning-handed - deft, artful, dexterous.
coronal - circlet or garland worn around the head.coomb - short valley in the side of a hill or mountain.constellate - formed into a constellation.confusticate - to confuse, confound, or perplex (someone) (The Oxford English Dictionary says it's a fanciful form of "confuse" or "confound", but its Latin roots can be interpreted "beat with a cudgel".).concourse - large group of people crowd.conclave - a meeting, or the place where a meeting is held.commons - shared food short commons insufficient food.coffer - strongbox, especially for holding valuables.cockshut-light - evening twilight (when woodcocks fly through clearings called cockshoots and can be netted, according to Wikipedia, or when poultry are shut into their enclosures, an alternative given by the Oxford English Dictionary).cob - spider (the name survives in the term 'cobweb').close-serried - packed tightly together.clave - old past tense of cleave, in the sense 'stick, adhere'.circlet - a thin band of precious metal, worn onthe head.churl - a person lacking manners or breeding churlish rude, ungrateful or mean.chestnut - often-told joke or story, anything trite.champ - (of a horse) munch on the bit, showing eagerness.chalcedony - a precious form of quartz onyx, agate and cornelian are all types of chalcedony.cesspool - a pool of waste-water or sewage.causeway - a road or track raised above the surrounding ground, especially used to provide a dry route through wetlands.canker - a disease, a corrupting influence.cairn - a mound of stones or rocks, used as a marker, memorial or tomb.(In British English a barn is a storage building for grain, hay, straw, etc., not a shelter for animals.) burgeon - come forth, bud, begin to grow quickly.buckler - a small round shield, held in one hand.brock - badger, a British rural dialect word.bond - storage of wine, etc, until duty has been paid out of bond released from this.blazoned - painted or inscribed (an heraldic term).bivouac - temporary camp, without tents.bier - platform for carrying a coffin or body.besom - a stiff broom made out of sticks and twigs.benighted - in, or overtaken by, darkness.bason - formerly a common spelling of basin.barrel - the long, cylindrical part of a key.baldric - a shoulder-belt for carrying horns, swords, etc.bade - old past tense of "bid", pronounced "bad".aumbry - a small recess or cupboard in the wall.attercop - a spider, also meaning a peevish or ill-natured person.askance - with an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval.arrassed - covered with arras (rich figured tapestry).argent - silver, especially in heraldry.aloof - (of a person) distant, uninvolved.alms-guest - one given shelter as an act of charity.agin - a dialect word meaning "against", "next to".adamant - diamond, or (more generally) any very hard substance.Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Tolkien's works, there are many uncommon, archaic, obsolete and dialectal words (especially from the dialects of the United Kingdom), and words used in unusual senses, which might cause confusion to readers and may make a passage of text appear unwieldy.