sumben Moby Dick vocabulary
Terms
undefined, object
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- lascivious
- inciting to lust, wanton, lewd
- putative
- supposed, reputed
- quirt
- riding whip
- burgeoning
- growing, flourishing
- wimple
- woman's head covering as worn by nuns
- balmy
- mild, fragrant, mildly insane
- virulent
- severe, deadly, hostile
- sallow
- of an unhealthy, yellowish complexion
- gainsay
- to deny, contradict
- petulant
- irritable and impatient
- hew
- to cut, hack, chop
- abstruse
- difficult to comprehend, profound
- itinerant
- traveling, moving from place to place
- cosset
- to pamper or coddle
- abiding
- lasting
- eleemosynary
- charitable, generous
- hyacinth
- a bulbous plant having spike of bell shaped flowers, semiprecious stone
- foible
- a whimsy, a weakness
- atavism
- reversion to distant hereditary traits or characteristics
- hauteur
- puffed up pride, high self-opinion
- prepossessing
- attractive/charming
- craven
- cowardly, coward
- tête-à-tête
- private talk
- unsullied
- unstained
- trundle
- to roll along, move as on wheels
- equivocation
- ambiguous expressions, evasive language
- vicissitudes
- change of condition, good/bad fortune
- corroborating
- confirming
- belfry
- bell tower
- tutelary
- guarding, instructing
- etiolate
- to grow pale, weaken
- baneful
- ruinous, deadly
- gigue
- a jig
- credulous
- too willing to believe, gullible
- indolent
- lazy, sluggish, giving little pain
- farrago
- a confused mixture
- truncheon
- baton/staff or office, police officer's club
- verve
- enthusiasm, dash
- fatuous
- complacently, silly, inane
- defray
- to pay for
- polyglot
- sm. who speaks many lang.
- sepulchral
- pert. to burial, hollow in tone, gloomy
- ingenuous
- candid, open
- anodyne
- serving to assuage pain, emotions
- asperse
- to make false or foul charges against
- furlong
- 220 yards
- miff
- to offend
- rube
- crude or clownish country man
- imbibe
- to drink, absorb, take in
- prow
- foremost surface of a ship
- quay
- dock for landing/loading ship's cargo
- dyspepsia
- impaired power of digestion
- sanguine
- confidant, optimistic, hopeful
- propitious
- kindly disposed, favorable
- novena
- a devotion consisting of nine days of prayer
- essay
- an effort, to try, endeavor
- perquisite
- extra pay received because of one's regular work as a tip
- cymbal
- metallic musical instrument
- ingurgitate
- to swallow, gulp
- dirk
- dagger
- rote
- mechanical routine in learning, repetition w/o attention to meaning, medieval string instrument
- blasé
- bored, unimpressed
- exordium
- beginning, esp. preface, intro
- boudoir
- woman's bedroom or private sitting room
- kwashiorkor
- malnutrition in children caused by protein deficiency
- ardor
- passion, intense feelings
- brevet
- temporary promotion to higher rank
- congeal
- to coagulate, clot, freeze
- unwonted
- not usual, not customary
- aureole
- halo, nimbus
- tryst
- appointed meeting esp. between lovers
- obeisant
- deferent, worshipful
- Beatitude
- any of Jesus' statements on blessedness at the Sermon on the Mount
- shoal
- sandbank, to crowd, a crowd, shallow
- paregoric
- medicine for relieving pain or diarrhea
- palimpsest
- parchment where one writing has been erased to make room for another
- flummery
- agreeable nonsense, porridge
- rapscallion
- scamp, rascal
- raiment
- clothing
- livid
- dull bluish, furiously angry
- scimitar
- curved single-edge sword
- staid
- sober, sedate, not flighty
- demur
- take acceptation, object
- elocution
- the study and practice of effective public speaking
- ewer
- water pitcher w/ wide mouth
- pungent
- sharp and biting
- deadhead
- w/o passengers/cargo
- litany
- ceremonial prayer w/responses
- incipient
- beginning to exist or appear
- parang
- knife used by Malays
- slaver
- to let saliva dribble from the mouth, to show inordinate desire, saliva, drivel
- uncanny
- eerie, weird, mysterious
- countenance
- to tolerate, approve
- cogent
- convincing, forcible
- imbroglio
- an intricate, complex, or confusing state of affairs
- lucidity
- clarity or sanity
- forbear
- to refrain or abstain from, to hold back, be patient, or lenient
- sinecure
- an easy job
- exemplar
- ideal model
- tantamount
- equivalent as in value, force, effect
- concerted
- agreed upon
- obstreperously
- noisily, unruly
- slattern
- prostitute, dirty, untidy woman
- billet-doux
- love letter
- bedraggled
- untidy or soiled as clothes, unkempt
- chattel
- property, belongings
- intransigent
- refusing to agree or compromise, one who is uncompromising
- camphorate
- to be made into synthetic gum
- unctuous
- oily, suave
- lugubrious
- mournful, doleful, dejected
- argosy
- merchant vessel/fleet carrying rich cargo
- nonce
- the time being, this one time
- peri
- elf, fairy
- prosaic
- unromantic, commonplace
- cauterize
- to burn w/ hot iron or caustic esp. to prevent morbidity
- inimical
- harmful like enemy, hostile
- caterwaul
- to scream, cry out
- deleterious
- injurious
- ineffable
- inexpressible, too sacred to speak of
- lassitude
- weariness, languor
- imprecation
- an evil, curse
- colic
- severe/gripping abdominal pains
- patently
- obsessively, plainly
- impute
- to charge, ascribe, attribute to esp. sm. discreditable
- wonk
- obsessive student, grind, an unattractive person
- quiescent
- tranquil, w/o motion
- consternation
- a terrified amazement, dismay
- macadam
- road of crushed stone, usually with an asphalt surface
- obstetric
- medicine esp. care during pregnancy and childbirth
- restitution
- restoration, return of sm. lost/taken
- squire
- to escort/accompany
- impunity
- exemption, freedom from penalty
- evert
- to turn outward or inside out
- prate
- to chatter, babble, talk too much
- elephantine
- huge
- tithe
- tent part, tax, contribution to a church
- buss
- to kiss
- orotund
- pompous and bombastic
- mitigation
- relief from sm. harsh/painful
- hoosegow
- jail
- diadem
- a crown or jeweled headband
- sully
- to stain, defile
- prostration
- lying flat, laid low, cause to succumb to
- praxis
- art learned by experience, established practices
- churn
- to seethe
- opine
- to give an opinion, think
- ilk
- sort, king, family, class
- ague
- malarial fever marked by intermittent paroxysms of chill/sweat
- concupiscent
- lustful, sexually desirous
- pommel
- rounded knob on saddle
- maelstrom
- whirlpool, great and destructive agitation
- inamorata
- female lover
- proffer
- tender, as an offer, an offer
- meretricious
- deceitfully alluring, tawdry
- grog
- rum and water
- forebear
- ancestor
- quicksilver
- unpredictable
- effulgence
- radiantly bright
- poltroon
- coward
- uxorious
- excessively fond of wife
- myrrh
- aromatic resin of certain plants used as perfume
- spangle
- small glittering piece, to decorate w/glittering pieces
- swain
- male admirer
- concatenate
- to link together
- invective
- vehement denunciation or vituperation, censorious, abusive
- satori
- in Zen Buddhism the state of enlightenment
- meager
- lean, thin
- bolo
- heavy single-edged knife
- epaulet
- ornamental badge on the shoulder
- philter
- love potion
- illicit
- illegal
- preclude
- to impede, prevent
- oafishly
- clumsy, awkward
- expostulate
- to reason earnestly, remonstrate
- ignominy
- public disgrace
- prescience
- foreknowledge, foresight
- rake
- idle, dissolute man, libertine
- torpor
- sluggishness in bodily functioning, stupor, stupidity, inactivity, lethargy
- dissemble
- to give a false impression about, pretend to disregard and ignore
- ragamuffin
- ragged person
- ruddy
- reddish
- fecund
- prolific, fertile
- quail
- to cower, shrink away, flinch, loose courage
- discursive
- rambling, moving from subject to subject w/o order
- dally
- to play w/o seriousness, to idle, delay with other's possessions
- nonplus
- to perplex, confound
- raffish
- vulgar, rowdy
- anomalous
- deviation from the common rule, abnormal, irregular
- poniard
- dagger
- pirogue
- canoe hollowed out from the trunk of a tree
- harts horn
- solution of ammonia and water or alcohol
- emolument
- salary or fees for services, gain
- sinuous
- full of curves, winding, devious
- pinion
- to restrain by cutting wings, holding arms behind back
- insidious
- operating stealthily with evil effect, deceitful, treacherous
- gamboge
- resin used as a yellow pigment or medicine
- cenotaph
- empty tomb as a memorial to someone buried elsewhere
- abaft
- toward the stern, behind
- laudanum
- medical tincture of opium
- runnel
- small stream
- anomie
- lack of purpose, ruthlessness
- fiat
- decree or order
- isinglass
- form of translucent gelatin
- orison
- a prayer
- ambergris
- morbid sperm whale secretion used to make perfume
- chalice
- cup
- gout
- painful inflammation of joint
- milieu
- surroundings, environment
- demijohn
- large jug usually encased in wicker
- quaff
- to drink deeply
- conjugal
- marital
- apotheosis
- glorified personification of a person or idea, deification
- muslin
- cotton fabric esp. used for sheets
- pestiferous
- infectious, noxious, annoying
- spoor
- track or trail of a wild animal
- ecumenical
- related to the Christian church as a whole
- prurient
- lewd in thought
- jocular
- playful, joking
- beatitude
- blessedness, bliss
- abrade
- to wear away by friction
- precocious
- prematurely developed esp. mentally
- pratfall
- fall on the buttocks
- imprecate
- to put a curse or evil upon
- wight
- a person
- vapid
- lacking animation/flavor
- miasma
- noxious emanation
- prodigal
- wasteful/reckless in spending
- palaver
- idle talk, cajolery carrion
- hackles
- temper
- progenitor
- ancestor in the direct line
- briny
- salty
- fastidious
- hard to please, overnice
- freshet
- sudden seasonal rise in level of a stream
- palpable
- readily perceived, obvious
- bosh
- utter nonsense, nothing
- purport
- to claim
- kahuna
- boss, person in charge
- legerdemain
- sleight of hand, conjuring
- winsome
- charming, attractive
- compendious
- summarily, a summary
- doxology
- hymn/psalm in praise of god
- forlorn
- abandoned, wretched, hopeless
- yahoo
- brute, coarse person
- carrion
- dead and putrefying flesh
- nubile
- marriageable
- pedantic
- narrow-minded, overly meticulous
- surly
- ill-humored, ill-tempered
- totem
- emblem
- redoubtable
- formidable
- brusque
- abrupt, curt
- persiflage
- flippant, bantering talk
- beadle
- minor official having disciplinary duties
- profligacy
- wastefulness, reckless extravagance
- panniers
- basket esp. in pairs
- career
- to move rapidly, rush
- mélange
- hodgepodge, medley