12.18 Curtis, surface, Jervis, Purves, service, surplice, dermis, kermis, furnace, Furness, burgess, Burgess, purchase, * resurface, self-service, disservice, repurchase, * epidermis
12.19 purpose, circus, Fergus, nervous, surplus, workless, wordless, mirthless, worthless, Thermos®, curtness, pertness, firmness, terseness, versus, Tertius, * Lycurgus, alertness, Propertius, * multipurpose, Carrickfergus, * hurt us, curse us, etc.
12.20 curtest, pertest, furthest, firmest, earnest, Ernest, sternest, etc.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
12.21 surfaced, serviced, * resurfaced, reservist, repurchased, * taxidermist
12.22 furbish, Kurdish, Turkish, dervish, churlish, girlish, skirmish, burnish, furnish, * refurbish
12.23 burnished, furnished, * refurbished, unfurnished
12.24 burbot, Herbert, sherbet, turbot, Urquhart, ergot, Dermot, * alternate
12.25 turnspit, Burkitt, circuit, surfeit, vervet, circlet, hermit, Kermit, permit, Burnett, * short-circuit, interpret, * reinterpret, misinterpret, * work it, turn it, etc.
12.26 Wordsworth, vermouth
12.27 furtive, cursive, * assertive, subversive, discursive, coercive
12.28 herpes, turkeys, birdies, certes, Surtees, thirties, worthies, Hermes, journeys, mercies, Xerxes, * Laertes, etc.
12.29 Burgundy, certainty, verbally, personally, fervently, urgently, earnestly, certainly, purposely, nervously, Burberry®, servery, burglary, mercury, Mercury, wormery, fernery, ternary, turnery, bursary, cursory, mercery, nursery, tertiary, perjury, surgery, purgatory, Germany, fervency, urgency, Bermondsey, perfidy, furmity, chirpily, sturdily, dirtily, worthily, vertically, surgically, perfectly, mercifully, furtively, churlishly, girlishly, circuitry, mercenary, courtesy, virtually, * uncertainty, hyperbole, maternally, paternally, eternally, internally, externally, infernally, nocturnally, impersonally, commercially, alternately, uncertainly, infirmary, quaternary, precursory, conservatory, observatory, confirmatory, diversionary, conservancy, emergency, insurgency, acerbity, absurdity, infirmity, fraternity, maternity, paternity, eternity, modernity, perversity, adversity, diversity, unworthily, deservedly, reservedly, concernedly, accursedly, unmercifully, assertively, unnervingly, unerringly, discourtesy, * universally, controversially, inadvertently, anniversary, microsurgery, neurosurgery, taciturnity, university, undeservedly, unreservedly, unconcernedly, disconcertingly, * counterinsurgency, biodiversity, etc.
12.30 pergola, Berbera, gerbera, murderer, murmurer, nurturer, perjurer, surfacer, purchaser, curvature, nervature, worshipper, Guernica, Perdita, servitor, vertebra, Wurlitzer®, furnisher, furniture, circular, Ursula, * conservator, hyperbola, interpreter, determiner, tubercular, * semicircular
12.31 Serbia, chirpier, murkier, perkier, quirkier, sturdier, dirtier, thirstier, worthier, curlier, earlier, surlier, Hermia, hernia, vernier, Mercia, * suburbia, Calpurnia, Hibernia, inertia, * hyperthermia, hypothermia, etc.
12.32 workable, learnable, searchable, personal, vertical, cervical, versicle, surgical, merciful, worshipful, Percival, vertebral, germinal, terminal, virginal, virtual, * unworkable, convertible, observable, transferable, returnable, discernible, submersible, reversible, puerperal, impersonal, adverbial, proverbial, liturgical, unmerciful, * imperturbable, controvertible, indiscernible, nonreturnable, irreversible, intervertebral, interpersonal, metallurgical, * incontrovertible, entrepreneurial
12.33 Pergamum, burdensome, erbium, terbium, Birmingham, * ytterbium, operculum
12.34 Turkoman, Pergamon, Ferguson, Serbian, Permian, Surbiton, Workington, Worthington, Burlington, journeyman, clergyman, Murchison, * Gilbertian, quaternion, Saturnian, Melburnian, Hibernian, Copernican
12.35 termagant, firmament, permanent, pertinent, turbulent, * reverberant, impermanent, subservient, advertisement, refurbishment, appurtenant, impertinent, determinant, * antiperspirant
12.36 furtherance, permanence, pertinence, turbulence, * impermanence, subservience, advertisements, appurtenance, impertinence, etc.
12.37 purposeless, Cerberus, murderess, murderous, hurtfulness, nervousness, worthlessness, courteous, pervious, Perseus, merciless, murkiness, sturdiness, dirtiness, worthiness, earliness, terminus, verminous, earnestness, virtuous, * discourteous, impervious, Copernicus, assertiveness, superfluous, tuberculous, * airworthiness, seaworthiness, roadworthiness, etc.
12.38 herbalist, journalist, * determinist
12.39 chirpiest, murkiest, perkiest, quirkiest, sturdiest, dirtiest, thirstiest, worthiest, curliest, earliest, surliest, etc.
12.40 perforate, vertebrate, * imperforate, invertebrate, determinate, * indeterminate
12.41 merchantable, personable, permeable, terminable, serviceable, * impermeable, determinable, interminable, unserviceable, * semipermeable, indeterminable
The rhymes in this section have the ‘eer’ sound of beer and fiercely as their main or final vowel sound.
13.1 beer, bier, blear, cere, cheer, clear, dear, deer, drear, ear, fear, gear, Greer, hear, here, jeer, kir, leer, Lear, mere, Mir, near, peer, pier, queer, rear, sear, sere, shear, sheer, smear, sneer, spear, sphere, steer, stere, tear, tier, Trier, veer, Wear, we’re, weir, Weir, year, * appear, frontier, De Vere, adhere, unclear, career, uprear, veneer, Kashmir, apnoea, Tangier, cashier, emir, Vermeer, endear, revere, revers, severe, inhere, mishear, King Lear, midyear, besmear, Kinnear, sincere, vizier, Zaïre, idea, austere, chorea, all-clear, cohere, Hosea, * Tranmere, Tangmere, cashmere, Hampshire, Grasmere, Berkshire, Ayrshire, tapir, Shakespeare, fakir, nadir, reindeer, headgear, Ellesmere, Cheshire, wheatear, switchgear, Kingswear, Wiltshire, compeer, Shropshire, Yorkshire, roe deer, Goodyear, * halberdier, Agadir, balladeer, pamphleteer, gazetteer, stratosphere, atmosphere, bandolier, chandelier, cavalier, Cavalier, cameleer, gasolier, Lancashire, Staffordshire, racketeer, gadgeteer, bathysphere, Vladimir, Casimir, Aboukir, Hertfordshire, marketeer, Chanticleer, Derbyshire, Haslemere, Cambridgeshire, belvedere, grenadier, megathere, seborrhoea, yesteryear, Delamere, Benazir, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, hemisphere, Bedivere, Elzevir, engineer, technofear, persevere, reappear, ecosphere, disappear, ginger beer, brigadier, interfere, lithosphere, crystal-clear, Windermere, cuirassier, Lincolnshire, Guinevere, insincere, privateer, biosphere, diarrhoea, pyorrhoea, Tyne and Wear, pioneer, bombardier, commandeer, volunteer, troposphere, gondolier, logorrhoea, gonorrhoea, Rothermere, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Conybeare, rocketeer, profiteer, sonneteer, domineer, Warwickshire, auctioneer, corsetier, Paul Revere, mountaineer, oversteer, overhear, sloganeer, understeer, Buttermere, buccaneer, puppeteer, musketeer, Worcestershire, souvenir, muleteer, fusilier, mutineer, scrutineer, * titanothere, Northamptonshire, electioneer, ionosphere, ozonosphere, * charioteer, orienteer, amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, adipocere, Nottinghamshire, Buckinghamshire, Golda Meir, Guadalquivir, carabineer
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer.
ALEXANDER POPE
13.2 beard, cheered, cleared, eared, jeered, leered, peered, reared, smeared, sneered, speared, steered, tiered,