ABSP - Russian

Russian

Words

agitprop	pro-communist agitation and propaganda.
apparat	the structure, mechanism, etc. of an organization, especially a political one.
apparatchik	a member of the APPARAT.
artel	a Russian workers' guild.
astatki	the residue of petroleum distillation, used as fuel.
ataman	a chief of the Cossacks. Also HETMAN.
babushka	a triangular headscarf tied under the chin; a grandmother.
baidarka bidarkee bidarka	an Alaskan Inuit kayak.
balalaika	a Russian musical instrument.
banya	a Russian sauna bath.
barometz	a fabulous Russian creature, half plant and half sheep; the inverted woolly caudex etc. of the tree-fern Cibotium barometz, which was used to create the illusion of such a creature.
bashlik bashlyk	a Russian hood with long ends.
beluga	the white whale; the sturgeon.
bistro	a small bar or restaurant > BISTROS.
blini bliny	in Russia, a small buckwheat pancake.
bolshevik	a violent revolutionary. Hence BOLSHIE.
borsch borsht bortsch borscht borshch	cold beetroot soup.
borzoi	a kind of wolf-hound.
boyar boyard	a member of the old Russian aristocracy, abolished by Peter the Great.
boyarism	rule by the BOYARS, the old Russian aristocracy.
brunizem	a prairie soil.
bura buran	in central Asia, a blizzard blowing from the North, or a summer wind from the North that causes dust storms.
caracul karakul	a sheep of Central Asia; the curled black fleece of its lambs.
carlock	a sort of Russian isinglass, made from the air bladder of the sturgeon, and used in clarifying wine.
cesarevna tsesarevna	the wife of a tsar's eldest son.
cheka	the Russian secret police.
chekist	a member of the CHEKA, the Russian secret police.
chernozem tschernosem	a very fertile soil of sub-humid steppe.
chinovnik	a high official in the Russian civil service.
copeck kopek kopeck	a Russian monetary unit. One hundred copecks make a rouble, worth about sixty cents.
cossack	a Russian cavalryman.
coulibiac couliabaca koulibiaca	a Russian dish of flaked fish and semolina baked in pastry.
czar tsar tzar	a ruler, emperor.
czarevich tsarevich	the wife of a TSAR.
czarina czaritsa czaritza tsarina tzarina	the empress of Russia.
czarevna tzarevna	the proper title for the daughter of a czar.
dacha datcha	a Russian country house.
dessiatine dessyatine desyatin	a measure of land.
dolina doline	a typically funnel-shaped basin in a karstic region.
douma duma	the Russian parliament.
droog	a violent hooligan, from 'A Clockwork Orange'. [Russian drug, friend].
droshky drosky	a low, four-wheeled, open carriage used in Russia.
dumaist	a member of the DUMA, the Russian parliament.
dvornik	a Russian concierge or porter.
feldsher feldschar feldschar	in Russia and Eastern Europe, a partly trained doctor, or one who assists a doctor on the battlefield.
glasnost	the policy of openness and forthrightness under the premiership of Mikhail Gorbachev.
glei gley	a sticky clay soil.
golomynka	a very oily fish found in Lake Baikal.
gopak	a high-leaping folk-dance from the Ukraine.
gospoda gospodin	a Russian address, equivalent to Mr.
guberniya	a territorial division of imperial Russia.
gulag	the system of political prisons and forced labour camps in the USSR. [Russian Gulag, acronym from Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh LAGere (Chief Administration for Corrective Labour Camps)].
gusli gusla gusle	a one-stringed Balkan musical instrument. {GUSLA is the Bulgarian form and GUSLE the Serbian form].
guslar	a performer on the GUSLA, a one-stringed Balkan musical instrument.
intelligentsia intelligentzia	the intellectual or cultured classes, orig. in Russia.
isba	a Russian log hut.
izvestia izvestiya	news, information.
jarovize	to hasten the flowering of a plant. [Russ. yarovizatsiya, f. yarovo, spring-sown].
kalashnikov	a sub-machine gun made in the former USSR.
kasha	a porridge or gruel-like dish made from crushed buckwheat.
katorga	penal servitude, hard labour, esp. in the labour camps of Stalin.
kazachok kazatzka kazatski kazatsky	a Russian folk dance > KAZACHKI; KAZATZKAS; KAZATSKIS; KAZATSKIES.
keta	a Pacific salmon, the dog-salmon.
kibitka	a tent used by the Kirghiz Tartars.
kissel	thickened fruit purée dessert.
knout	to flog; to scourge.
kolhoz kolkoz kolkhos kolkhoz	a collective or co-operative farm in the former USSR.
kolinski kolinsky	a kind of Northern Eurasian mink > KOLINSKIES.
kopiyka	a monetary unit of the Ukraine > KOPYIYOK or KOPIYKAS.
koumis kumiss koumys koumiss	an intoxicating fermented or distilled liquor originally made by the Tartars from mare's or camel's milk.
kremlin	a Russian citadel.
kulak	in Russia, a rich peasant > KULAKS or KULAKI. [Russian kulak, fist].
kurgan	a prehistoric burial mound.
kvas kvass quass	an Eastern European rye beer.
laika	a breed of small reddish-brown working dog.
mammoth	an extinct species of elephant.
maskirovka	use of deception or camouflage as military stratagem.
matroyshka matryoshka	a hollow wooden doll > MATRIOSHKI; MATROYSHKAS or MATROYSHKI; MATRYOSHKI.
mazout mazut	petroleum residue after distillation.
mir	a Russian peasant farming commune.
moujik mujik muzhik muzjik	a Russian peasant.
nomenklatura	office-holders and managers in a communist regime.
oblast	a political subdivision of a republic in the [former] USSR > OBLASTS or OBLASTI.
osetra ossetra	a type of caviar.
osseter	a species of sturgeon.
pashka	a rich Russian dessert, traditionally served at Easter.
pavlova	a type of dessert consisting of a meringue base topped with whipped cream. [From the dancer Anna Pavlova].
perestroika	the period of reconstruction in Russia under Mikhail Gorbachev.
pierogi	a small dumpling with a filling > PIEROGIES. Also PIROGI.
pirog	a large Russian pie, stuffed with meat, fish, eggs, or cabbage > PIROGI, PIROGHI, PIROGEN.
pirogi	(Pl.) PIROG, a large Russian pie, stuffed with meat, fish, eggs, or cabbage. 2. as a singular, a dumpling with a filling, with plural PIROGIES. Also PIEROGI.
pirojki piroshki pirozhki	a small Russian pastry made with meat or cabbage filling. Also PIROSHKI, PIROZHKI.
podsol podzol	a leached soil formed in cool, humid climates. Also PODZOL.
pogrom	a violent, anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish village or area; (verb) to massacre.
politburo	the policy-making committee in communist states > POLITBUROS.
polynia polynya	an area of open water amidst sea ice, as in the Arctic.
pood	a Russian weight, equal to forty Russian pounds or about thirty-six English pounds avoirdupois.
proso	a variety of millet > PROSOS.
puschkinia	a genus of spring-flowering bulbous plants native to western Asia. [From A. Mussin-Puschkin].
refusenik refusnik	a Soviet Jew wishing to emigrate; a dissident.
rendzina	a fertile soil-type derived from calcium-rich bedrock.
riza	an ornamental silver plate covering a Russian icon.
rouble ruble	a Russian monetary unit.
rusalka	a Russian water-nymph.
saffian	brightly-coloured goatskin or sheepskin leather.
saiga	an antelope native to the plains of Siberia and Eastern Russia. The male has erect annulated horns, and tufts of long hair beneath the eyes and ears.
samizdat	in the former Soviet Union, the clandestine circulation of underground literature.
samovar	a tea-urn.
samoyed	a Siberian breed of dog.
sarafan	the national dress of Russian peasant woman.
sastruga	long parallel ridges of snow that form on windy plains > SASTRUGI. Also ZASTRUGA.
sazhen	a unit of length formerly used in Russia, equal to 7 feet (2.13 m).
seecatch	an adult male Aleutian fur seal > SEECATCHIE.
sevruga	a species of sturgeon found in the Black Sea. [Russ. sevyruga].
shaman	a priest of the type of religion which once prevailed among all the Ural-Altaic peoples (Tungusic, Mongol, and Turkish), and which still survives in various parts of Northern Asia.
shashlik shashlick shaslik	a type of lamb kebab.
shchi shtchi	a kind of cabbage soup.
sierozem	a type of soil.
solonchak	a pale or grey soil type found in arid to subhumid, poorly drained conditions.
solonets solonetz	an alkaline soil-type having a hard dark subsoil under a thin friable topsoil.
souslik suslik	a ground squirrel.
soviet	any of a number of elected local, district, or national councils in the former USSR with legislative and executive functions.
sovkhoz	a Soviet state-owned farm > SOVKHOZY or SOVKHOZES.
soyuz	a Soviet spacecraft > SOYUZES.
spetsnaz spetznaz	a select military unit in the former Soviet Union.
sputnik	an orbiting spacecraft.
starets staretz	an Eastern Orthodox spiritual advisor.
starosta	a village headman; a Polish noble holding a STAROSTY or domain bestowed by the crown.
starosty	a castle and domain conferred on a STAROSTA, a Polish nobleman for life.
steppe	one of the vast plains in Southeastern Europe and in Asia.
sterlet	a small sturgeon found in the Caspian Sea.
strelitz	a soldier of the ancient Muscovite guard or Russian standing army; also, the guard itself > STRELITZI or STRELITZES. [Russ. strelets, archer].
stroganoff	of meat, cut thinly and cooked with onions. [From Count Pavel Aleksandrovich Stroganov (1772—1817), Russian diplomat].
taiga	subarctic Siberian evergreen forest.
tarantas	a low four-wheeled carriage used in Russia > TARANTASES. Also TARANTASS.
tarantass	a low four-wheeled carriage used in Russia > TARANTASSES. Also TARANTAS.
telega	a four-wheeled springless wagon.
terek	a kind of sandpiper, named for the river Terek in Russia.
tokamak tokomak	a toroidal device used in fusion.
tovarich tovarisch tovarish	friend, comrade.
troika	a carriage drawn by three horses.
ukase	a proclamation by a Russian emperor or government having the force of law. [Russian ukazat, to show, order].
urman	swampy pine forest.
uvarovite	a green lime-chrome garnet. [From Count S. S. Uvarov, a Russian minister of education].
vaivode voivode waivode waiwode	originally, the title of a military commander in various Slavonic countries; afterwards applied to governors of towns or provinces.
verst verste	a unit of distance equal to approximately 2/3 of a mile.
vodka	an alcoholic drink.
volost	a local government district in Russia.
vozhd	a supreme leader in Russia.
yourt	a felt tent used by Mongolians. Also YURT.
yuft	a kind of Russian leather.
yurt	a Mongolian tent made of felt > YURTS or YURTA. Also YOURT.
zakuska zakouska	a hors d'oeuvre; a snack > ZAKUKSKI, ZAKOUSKI.
zastruga	long parallel ridges of snow that form on windy plains > ZASTRUGI. Also SASTRUGA.
zek	in the USSR, an inmate of a prison or labour camp.
zemstvo	an elected local administrative council in Czarist Russia > ZEMSTVA or ZEMSTVOS.
ziganka	a Russian country dance.

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