gaily	cheerfully
to romp about	to play in a lively way
to bend over backwards to do sth	to do all within one's power to please sb
to get wind of sth	to hear a rumour, to get to know about sth usually secret
unsolicited	not asked for, voluntary
hardy	able to endure difficult conditions, able to survive a lot
a surfeit of sth	too much of sth
stodgy	drab, pedestrian
off-kilter	disfunctional, that does not function properly
regimens	a set of rules that ones have to follow
to be riddled with	to be full of
abstruse	complex, too difficult to understand
tenuous	tiny/ having little significance or substance
to fall by the wayside	to fail to make progress
to give sb the runaround	to treat sb deceitfully, in a deceitful, evasive manner
shoddy	of poor quality/ badly composed
a fluke	a thing that is accidentally successful, a stroke of luck
to make a mince	to make a lot of money on sth
dicey	risky, dangerous (informal)
a deadbeat	a person who has no money or home, doesn't pay debts/ sb who has lost his will to live and develop
to curse	to wish sb the worst
a blight	sth that spoils the beauty of sth
capacity	ability/ volume
rift	a chasm, a disagreement, a division
to strain	to try really hard
to sift	to look closely and separate interesting things from the rest
a dyke	a long wall of earth/ground
in hand	close, near, proximate
at hand	within one's reach
lethal	deadly
venal	people who accept money for doing sth dishonest, connected with law
forged	falsified
embezzlement	when you use company funds for personal gains
best	more than half
to be persevere in doing sth	to endure, to try again and again in spite of difficultier
to retort	to answer angrily
to resist	not to give up
to recompense	to compensate, to make up for
to retaliate	to try to get even with sb who harmed you
to loiter	to spend time doing nothing or useless things
to linger	to remain in small quantities, to be loath to leave
to recourse	to turn to sth for help
insensical	unwise, ridiculous