Today's words

I take a week of vacation, and suddenly the word of the day becomes interesting - though I missed one of these from before I left:

gam - 1. to have a visit or friendly conversation with.  2. to spend or pass (as time) talking
stiction - the force required to cause one body in contact with another to begin to move
graupel - granular snow
Cook's tour - a rapid or cursory survey or review
arbalest - a crossbow especially of medieval times

I previously knew the phrase Cook's tour, but had forgotten the meaning.  I knew what graupel is, but didn't know there was a name for it.  And I'd never heard of anyone else referring to static friction as stiction; I thought I'd made it up and never voiced it.