Silas Marner Vocabulary

 

Chapter 1

1. unwonted (1)-     Out of the ordinary

 

2. nutty (2)-     Probably just means containing a lot of nut bushes

 

3. winnowing-machine (2)-     A machine used to separate wheat from chaff

 

4. flail (2)-     An implement consisting of handle with a free swinging stick at the end; used in manual

                     threshing

 

5. chary (2)-     Characterized by great cautious and wariness

 

6. Whitsun (3)-     Christian holiday; the week beginning on Whitsunday (especially the first 3 days)

 

7. saw-pit (4)-     A pit over which lumber is positioned to be sawed by two men with a long two-

                           handled saw

 

8. shafts (4)-     Reference to horseracing and the starting gates.

 

9. tale (5)-     A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration; a count, in

                     distinction from measure or weight; a number reckoned or stated.

                     Total amount

 

10. foxglove (6)-     Any of several plants of the genus Digitalis

 

11. coltsfoot (6)-     Perennial herb with large rounded leaves resembling a colt's foot and yellow

                               flowers appearing before the leaves do; native to Europe but now nearly

                               cosmopolitan; used medicinally especially formerly

 

12. cataleptic (6)-     Affected by a trancelike state with loss of voluntary motion and failure to react to

                                stimuli

 

Chapter 2

1. loam (12)-     A rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay and decaying organic materials

 

2. dropsy (12)-     Swelling from excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue

 

3. outlay (14)-     The act of spending or disbursing money;  money that has been paid out

 

4. flock-beds (14)-     A bed filled with flocks or locks of coarse wool, or pieces of cloth cut up fine.

                                  "Once a flock bed, but repaired with straw." --Pope.

 

5. King Alfred (15)-     A ruler of Britain (click link for more)

 

6. rivulet (16)-     A small stream

 

Chapter 3

1. husbandry (17)-     The practice of cultivating the land or raising stock

 

2. apoplexy (17)-     A sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood

                                vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain

 

3. orts (17)-     A morsel left at a meal; a fragment; refuse; -- commonly used in the plural. --Milton.

 

4. top-knots (17)-     Decorative ribbon or bow worn as a headdress

                                 Showy crest or knot of hair or feathers

 

5. pillions (17)-     A seat behind the rider of a horse or motorbike etc.

 

6. chines (17)-     Cut of meat or fish including at least part of the backbone

 

7. hallowing (19)-     Render holy by means of religious rites

 

8. distrain (19)-     Confiscate by distress

                             Legally take something in place of a debt payment

 

9. laudanum (21)-     A tincture of opium or any preparation in which opium is the main ingredient

 

10. vacillation (21)-     Indecision in speech or action

 

11. vicinage (25)-     A limited region around a particular area; a vicinity.

                                A number of places situated near each other and considered as a group.

                                The residents of a particular neighborhood.

                                The state of living in a neighborhood; proximity.

 

Chapter 4

1. jacks (30)-     A machine or contrivance for turning a spit; a smoke jack, or kitchen jack.

 

2. treddles (31)-     (more commonly seen as “treadle”) The part of a foot lathe, or other machine,

                              which is pressed or moved by the foot.

 

Chapter 5

1. hectoring (35)-     Be bossy towards

 

Chapter 6

1. fustian (36)-     A strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nap

 

2. farrier (36)-     A person who shoes horses

 

3. throstle (38)-     Common Old World thrush noted for its song

 

4. liver and lights (39)-     Reference to butcher shop slang, lights meaning lungs

 

5. lief (43)-     ('lief' is archaic) very willing;  in a willing manner;  gladly

 

Chapter 7

1. surplice (46)-     A loose-fitting white ecclesiastical gown with wide sleeves

 

2. torpid (47)-     Slow and apathetic

 

3. nolo episcopari (48)-     [I am unwilling to accept the office of bishop. ] A very general notion

                                           prevails that every bishop at consecration uses these words. Mr. Christian,

                                           in his notes to Blackstone, says, “The origin of these words and of this

                                           vulgar notion I have not been able to discover; the bishops certainly give no

                                           such refusal at present, and I am inclined to think they never did at any time

                                           in this country.” When the see of Bath and Wells was offered to Beveridge,

                                           he certainly exclaimed, “Nolo episcopari, ” but it was the private
                                           expression of his own heart, and not a form of words, in his case.

                                           Chamberlayne says in former times the person about to be elected bishop

                                           modestly refused the office twice, and if he did so a third time his refusal

                                           was accepted. (Present State of England.)

 

 

Chapter 8

1. swarthy (50)-     Naturally having skin of a dark color

 

2. glazier's (50)-     Someone who cuts flat glass to size

 

3. behoof (54)-     Advantage; profit; benefit; interest; use.

 

Chapter 9

1. collogue (57)-     Confer secretly

 

2. lieve (59)-     Same as lief

 

3. ostler (60)-     Someone employed in a stable to take care of the horses

 

Chapter 10

1. capacious (61)-     Large in capacity

 

2. prescriptive (62)-     Based on or prescribing a norm or standard; normative

 

3. brawn (62)-     The flesh of a boar; also, the salted and prepared flesh of a boar.

 

4. pettitoes (63)-     The toes or feet of a pig, -- often used as food; sometimes, in contempt, the human

                               feet. --Shak.

 

5. beery (64)-    Smelling of beer

 

6. yarbs (64)-    It took me forever to figure out that this “herbs”

 

7. dubiety (67)-     The state of being unsure of something

 

8. outwork (67)-     Subsidiary defenses lying outside the main fortified area

 

9. Athanasian Creed (72)-     A Christian profession of faith:  it maintains belief in the Trinity as opposed

                                             to Arianism

 

Chapter 11

1. joseph (73)-     An outer garment worn in the 18th century; esp., a woman's riding habit, buttoned

                            down the front. --Fairholt.

 

2. exiguity (73)-     The quality of being meager; scantiness

 

3. nattiness (76)-     Stylishness as evidenced by a smart appearance

 

4. tucker (77)-     A detachable yoke of linen or lace worn over the breast of a low-cut dress

 

5. profane (77)-     Not sacred or concerned with religion

 

6. scrag (78)-     The lean end of a neck of veal

 

7. knuckle (78)-     I believe this implies a pig’s knuckle (as for eating)


8. scarify (83)-     Puncture the skin, as, for example, in some African cultures; for ritual purposes

                           Scar (the body) in certain cultures;  scratch the surface of

 

9. hale (84)-     Exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health; whole

 

10. nether (85)-     (referring to garments) Lower; below the torso

 

11. springe (86)-     All I can find are references to being ensnared, nothing that seems to denote a

                              description of a person

 

12. sodger (86)-     Alternative dialect pronunciation of soldier

 

13. carping (87)-     Quibbling over insignificant details

 

Chapter 12

1. futurity (91)-     The time yet to come;  The quality of being in or of the future

 

2. furze (91)-     Very spiny and dense evergreen shrub with fragrant golden-yellow flowers; common

                          throughout western Europe; gorse

 

Chapter 13

1. jollity (94)-     Feeling jolly and jovial and full of good humor; joviality

 

2. profligacy (95)-     Dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure (not involved with spending money in this

                                 sense

 

3. eglantine (99)-     Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers

                                followed by scarlet hips

 

Chapter 14

1. scrat (102)-     Dialect equivalent of scratch

 

2. colly (107)-     Make soiled, filthy, or dirty; begrime

 

3. truckle-bed (107)-     A low bed to be slid under a higher bed; same as trundle bed

 

4. descrying (108)-     Catching sight of

 

5. red sorrel (108)-     East Indian sparsely prickly annual herb or perennial subshrub widely cultivated

                                   for its fleshy calyxes used in tarts and jelly and for its bast fiber

 

6. brownie (110)-     (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous

 

7. propitiatory (110)-     Having power to atone for or offered by way of expiation or propitiation

                                      Intended to reconcile or appease

 

Chapter 15

NONE!

 

PART TWO

 

Chapter 16

1. veracious (113)-     Habitually speaking the truth

 

2. fustian (114)-     A strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nap (A soft or fuzzy surface texture)

 

3. bergamot (115)-     Small tree with pear-shaped fruit whose oil is used in perfumery; Italy

 

4. slips (115)-     A part (sometimes a root or leaf or bud) removed from a plant to propagate a new

                           plant through rooting or grafting

 

5. cogent (118)-     Having the power to influence or convince; powerfully persuasive

 

6. clave (119)-     To unite or be united closely in interest or affection; to adhere with strong attachment.

      (from cleave)

 

7. unvitiated (121)-     (opposite of vitiate: Corrupt morally)  Pure

 

8. fretted (123)-     Having a pattern of fretwork or latticework

 

9. belike (125)-     With considerable certainty; without much doubt

 

Chapter 17

1. filberts (125)-     Small nut-bearing tree much grown in Europe

                               Nut of any of several trees of the genus Corylus

 

2. bossed (126)-     Raised in a relief; same as embossed

 

3. spar (126)-     Any of various nonmetallic minerals (calcite or feldspar) that are light in color and

                           transparent or translucent and cleavable

                           A stout rounded pole of wood or metal used to support rigging

 

4. privation (129)-     A state of extreme poverty; deprivation

 

Chapters 18-21

NONE!

 

Conclusion

1. laburnums (149)-     Flowering shrubs or trees having bright yellow flowers; all parts of the plant are

                                   poisonous

 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1