food for thought	sth to think about
bounty	generosity in giving
imminent	likely to happen very soon
commoner	not a member of the nobility
to amalgamate	to cause to combine, to unite
kicker	trap, pitfall
also-ran	loser in a competition
ostensibly	apparently
to sail through	to succeed very easily in an exam
riot of sth	large variety of sth
to wince	to show with your face that you feel pain
arid	very dry
meticulous	very attentive to detail
starched woman	old-fashioned woman
to stray	to change direction unexpectedely and get lost
to linger	to be unwilling to leave, to remain in small quantities
coinage	a new word
to sustain	to cause to continue
unrelenting	not reducing in intensity
inconspicuous	not noticeable and not obvious
to band together	to unit in a group
to disdain	to contempt
futile	useless
to make both ends meet	to have just enough money to survive
to pervade	to enter and spread to every part of sth
decipherable	it can be read easily (about one's writing)
to dangle	to hang or swing loosely
lopsided	unevenly balanced with one side lower
verbose	using more words than is needed
to exasperate	to annoy, irritate, to tire sb mentally
to be at one's disposal	to be available to one whenever he needs to
to dispel	to cause to vanish
to have insight into	to have deep understanding of sth
to be at sea	to be lost, confused
to rule out	to eliminate
to be besotted	to be made silly, esp. by love
onset	the beginning of sth unpleasant
concealment	an instance of hiding sth
flamboyant	showy, extravagant, brightly coloured
turning point	time when an important decision, change takes place
testament to sth	proof of sth
potent	strong
to dress down	to wear plain clothes
intrusive	nosey, not being wanted
to pool resources	to put money into a common fund
to intercept	to stop sth that is moving
predominantly	mainly
ban	prohibition
to contend	to say sth that is true/ to compete
to fork out	to pay reluctantly