Why this word is great
VENERY — [Noun] The formal practice or sport of hunting game animals; also, the pursuit or indulgence of sexual pleasure. For the 'hunting' sense: From Middle English venerie, borrowed from Middle French venerie, from Old French venerie, derived from vener (to hunt), from Latin vēnor (to hunt, pursue). For the 'sexual indulgence' sense: From Latin vener-, stem of Venus (the goddess of love, sexual desire). Unlike "hunting," a blunt and utilitarian pursuit, or "debauchery," which suggests riotous moral decay, venery elevates both drives to codified arts governed by ritual. It is the crisp protocol of the hunt breakfast, the belling of hounds in a frost-wood, and the careful scoring of a stag’s antlers; it is the coded glance across a crowded room, the unspoken contract in a shared smile, and the whispered promise in the dark. Two ancient hungers—one for the flesh of the quarry, the other for the quarry of the flesh—testify that satisfaction lies as much in the civilized pursuit as in the capture.