Word of the Day: Bellicose

Bellicose [Adjective]

{be-li-kose}

“Pugnacious, warlike”

(Credit: Funk & Wagnalls)

Bellicose, from the Latin bellum meaning “war,” is an adjective used to describe someone or something that is warlike, quarrelsome, or eager to fight.

The Rise of Hal King: Episode 3 “Hard As Ice and Just As Cold

A hard, ugly sun rose over the Bolingbroke Ranch, the glare of dawn throwing long shadows over the dusty ground. Three such shadows fell across the porch of Henry King’s ranch house, their heads falling just short of King’s boots. These three shadows belonged to three men. They stood before King as he sat in a chair and took his breakfast.

The youngest of the three men opened his mouth to speak, but King held up a warning finger while he drank his coffee. It was still early, but the old cattleman had decided to start his day with a plate of fried steaks. The beans and fried eggs were an afterthought, nothing more. Taking his time chewing a mouthful of food, King said not a word, and the three men were forced to wait until it was his pleasure to join the conversation.

The Rise of Hal King: Episode 2 “Heading for the Sound”

Hal thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers. The night was comfortably cool and a light wind ruffled his hair as he made his way through the deserted streets of the dark and sleeping town. It was quiet here, but he was heading for the sound. Drawn like a moth, he quickened his step. Voices rose and the banter of a piano struggled to overcome the noise of fast footfalls and clapping hands.

Hal rounded a corner to find the Razorback blazing with light. Above the door of the saloon hung the head of a wild boar carved from a log and suspended on big, cast-iron hooks. Hal glanced up at it, watching it sway on its hooks as the dancers inside the Razorback slammed the floor with their boot heels. Making for the wide, wooden porch, Hal was stopped in his tracks by shattering glass as the saloon’s window exploded out into the street.

The Rise of Hal King: Episode 1 “A Bad Turn Coming”

Henry King had been plenty of things in his life. He’d been a cowhand and a drifter. He’d seen more than a few fights and won his share of them. As a younger man, he’d gotten away with some rustling here and there, but to his knowledge he’d never done anyone a bad turn who didn’t deserve it. He was a decent man, or so he styled himself. An upstanding citizen, that’s what they called him in town.

King had performed a genuine act of heroism, even if maybe the law wouldn’t entirely see it that way. A law that didn’t do right by heroes, however, was pretty poor thinking on somebody’s part, and King had rarely been inclined to care much for the law in any case. He and his guns had done a fair amount of good the way he figured it, and a man who did good was entitled to certain rewards.