Quidnunc definition

Quidnunc definition ; So three weeks of this have demonstrated that you people have pretty strong vocabularies. Makes me happy to see I have high-quality readers. But it makes my job difficult.
On the one hand, I have to give you tough and rarely used words. But on the other, I don’t want to get into things like scientific words, words from biology or words that describe some really weird particular circumstance that never happens and that no one will ever have need to use.
So I feel I have a fairly narrow needle to thread here between a very high bar and one that doesn’t descend down particularist ratholes. I guess the smarties among you can get all five and feel happy, while others might learn a useful word or two.
That said, we soldier on.
1. If something adumbrates another thing, it:
a. amplifies it or explains it further.
b. complicates it by introducing an unexpected element.
c. prefigures or foreshadows it.
2. A sedulous person is:
a. gullible and naïve.
b. generally intelligent but possessing strange gaps in knowledge.
c. assiduous and persevering.
3. A feuilleton is:
a. a challenge one person makes to another, as might precipitate a duel.
b. a decorative adornment, usually following a leaf pattern.
c. a piece of light writing; fiction, review, essay etc.
4. If something is phlogistic, it:
a. induces inflammation or fever.
b. causes the size of one’s head to increase.
c. acts as a lubricant or loosener.
5. A quidnunc is:
a. a clown or jester.
b. a gossip or busybody.
c. a thing of little value, not worth one’s trouble.
Answers below the fold.
Answers: 1-c, 2-c, 3-c, 4-a, 5-b.