[T]hey all came out to supper. . . . She was also pleased to see how Gregory toned up the table-talk and skilfully led it away from disagreeable topics.

To profundify or to profundicate: A Borenverb used to denote the use of thesauric and other enrichment techniques to make a simple idea appear to be profound. […] Graduates of agricultural institutions tend to use to profundicate while graduates of ivy league schools tend to use to profundify.

Coordinate term: guard post

I could not get a shot in. They turned in my direction and came like a train. I stopped the first and the others spilled round him at a frightful speed. I was in the eddy of the first beast, as it were. I got in another shot at an angle behind the ear and down he went.