Wondrous Words Wednesday

Kathy over at Bermudaonion's Weblog hosts Wondrous Words Wednesday. If you come across a word (or two) while reading that is new to you and would like to share your new knowledge, then hop over to Kathy's place and link up!

Here's what I've got this week from The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer:

Dacoit: Bandit--According to OED "A member of a class of robbers in India and Burma, who plunder in armed bands." And dacoity: bandrity, robbing in groups.

Quiescent: quiet or inactive

Zayat Kiss: mysterious weapon used by Fu-Manchu's men which leaves a mark like a kiss on the victim [found later to be caused by the bite of a poisonous centipede-like creature]

Context (p. 16):

It was the cry of a dacoit. Oh, dacoity, though quiescent, is by no means extinct. Fu-Manchu has dacoits in his train, and probably it is one who operates the Zayat Kiss, since it was a dacoit who watched the window of the study this evening.

Brassey (brassie): a club with a wooden head, the brass-plated face of which has more slope than a driver but less than a spoon, for hitting long, low drives on the fairway.

Context (p. 17):

The perfumed envelope lay upon a little coffee table in the center of the floor, and Smith, with an electric pocket lamp, a revolver, and a brassey beside him, sat on cushions in the shadow of a wardrobe.