Thing Probably Not To Do Today: be horrent.

The word horrent has given me great joy.

These lines of verse are from James Montgomery's poem Freedom.
It's the critical moment of the Battle of Sempach (1386), and all  will be lost unless a Hero arrives to save the day.

It did depend on one indeed;

Behold him,—Arnold Winkelried! Anyway, the reason I was reading James Montgomery's poem is that a bit later on he's describing the massed ranks of the Austrian army and it says this: Impregnable their front appears,   All horrent with projected spears, Which is really rather splendid. So, horrent. If your hair is horrent it's standing up on end, and the reason it's standing up on end will probably be horror rather than hair gel, though not necessarily because horrent can also either mean covered with bristles, or bristle-like, as in the Austrian spears.

Horrent can also mean expressive of horror. So you can make a horrent cry if, for instance, the top comes off the salt cellar as you're seasoning your soup.

 

If, say, a gorilla arrives for tea, you might even manage both the hair-standing-on-end and the cry. simultaneously

 

 

And I don't think anyone could blame you. Especially if the thing's wearing a waistcoat.

 

Thing Probably Not To Do Today: be horrent. This word comes from the Latin horrēns, from horrēre, which means to bristle or shudder.