TOM SAWYER VOCABULARY
CHAPTERS 1-6
1. sagacity- noun- keen sense of perception and understanding
“She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried and half glad that Tom had stumbled into obedient conduct for once.”
2. adamantine- adjective- hard, resolute
“ …and when she saw the state his clothes were in, her resolution to turn his Saturday Holiday into captivity at hard labour became adamantine in its firmness.”
3. skylarking- verb - running and jumping about
“…boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarrelling, fighting, skylarking.
4. alacrity- noun- enthusiasm, cheerfulness
“Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart.”
5. evanescent – adjective- transient, vanishing
“He had thought he loved her to distraction; he had regarded his passion as adoration; and behold it was only a poor little evanescent partiality.”
6. expectorate- verb- to spit
“…he was the envy of every boy he met because the gap in his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and admirable way.
7. pariah- noun- a despised or rejected person
“Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard. Huckleberry was cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town…”
8. ferule- noun- punishment, especially of the type administered in nineteenth-century schools
"Thomas Sawyer, this is the most astounding confession I have ever listened to. No mere ferule will answer for this offence. Take off your jacket."
9. portentous- adjective- marvelous, amazing
“Tom drew an hourglass, with a full moon and straw limbs to it, and armed the spreading fingers with a portentous fan.”
10. pathos- noun- a quality that arouses feelings of compassion
“But the pathos, the lesson, the moral of the great spectacle were lost upon the boy.”
CHAPTERS 7-12
11. slathers – noun- great quantities
“Yes, that’s so. And they get slathers of money – most a dollar a day, Ben Rogers says.”
12. upbraid- verb – to criticize severely or find fault with
“So she sat down to cry again and upbraid herself; and by this time the scholars began to gather again… and she had to hide her grief and still her broken heart.”
13. zenith- noun- at the height or top of
“And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk into church, brown and weather-beaten, in his black velvet doublet and trunks, his great jack-boots, his crimson sash…”
14. cogitating- verb- thinking or meditating
“Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood there cogitating.”
15. accoutrements or accouterments- noun- equipment or accessories
“The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more…”
16. ensconced- verb- settled in comfortably
“They found the sharp new heap they were seeking, and ensconced themselves within the protection of three great elms that grew in a bunch within a few feet of the grave.”
17. quailed- verb- cowered, shrunk back in fear
"Hucky, do you das't to go if I lead?"
"I don't like to, much. Tom, s'pose it's Injun Joe!"
Tom quailed.
18. ostentatiously- adverb- showy, pretentiously
“The crowd fell apart now, and the Sheriff came through ostentatiously, leading Potter by the arm.”
19. miscreant- noun- evil person
“…for plainly this miscreant had sold himself to Satan and it would be fatal to meddle with the property of such a power as that.”
20. caterwauling- verb- making a harsh, catlike cry
“And then there came, mingling with his half-formed dreams, a most melancholy caterwauling.”
CHAPTERS 13-17
21. festooning- verb- hanging or adorning with chains, garland or other decorations.
“The climbing fire lit up their faces and threw its ruddy glare upon the pillared tree-trunks of their forest temple, and upon the varnished foliage and festooning vines.”
22. purloined- verb- stole
“They tried to argue it away by reminding conscience that they had purloined sweetmeats and apples scores of times…”
23. credulous- adjective- ready to believe on the slightest evidence
“A brown spotted lady-bug … took wing and went off…-which did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect was credulous about conflagrations.”
24. conflagrations- noun- fires
“A brown spotted lady-bug … took wing and went off…-which did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect was credulous about conflagrations.”
25. shoal- noun- a sandbank or sandbar
“A few minutes later Tom was in the shoal water of the bar, wading towards the Illinois shore.”
26. transfixed- verb- motionless
“There was a rustle in the gallery, which nobody noticed; a moment later the church door creaked; the minister raised his streaming eyes above his handkerchief, and stood transfixed!”
CHAPTERS 18-24
27. lacerate- verb- to cause emotional pain
“And he kept drifting about to find Becky and lacerate her with the performance.”
28. vexation- noun- irritation
“She thrust the volume into the desk, turned the key, and burst out crying with shame and vexation.”
29. languidly- adverb- listlessly, lazily
“Most of the pupils glanced up languidly, but there were two among them that watched his movements with intent eyes.”
30. opulent- adjective- ample, plentiful
“…another was a wasteful and opulent gush of “fine language…”
31. mesmerizer – hypnotist
“A phrenologist and a mesmerizer came –and went again and left the village duller and drearier than ever.”
32. contemptuous- adjective- feeling scorn or disdain
“A contemptuous smile flitted across Injun Joe’s face.”
CHAPTERS 25-30
33. sallied- verb- set out, departed
“He sallied out to find Joe Haper, but failed of success.”
34. ciphered- verb- decoded
“…somebody finds an old yellow paper that tells how to find the marks – a paper tha’s got to be ciphered over about a week because it’s mostly signs and hy’roglyphics.”
35. palpable- adjective- tangible or perceptible
“Company would be a palpable improvement, he thought.”
36. ostentatious- adjective- favorable
“In the less ostentatious house No. 2 was a mystery.”
37. stalwart- adjective- strong and healthy
“…presently the heads of the old man and his two stalwart sons were thrust from the window.”
38. brace- noun- two of a kind
“So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate.”
39. blanched- verb- turned colorless
“Tom blanched and dropped his eyes.”
CHAPTERS 31-35
40. whetted- verb-stimulated
“The poor morsel of food only whetted desire.”
41. apathy- noun- lack of interest or feeling
“She had sunk into a dreary apathy and would not be roused.”
42. vestibule- noun- a room between an outer door and a connecting room
“The villagers began to gather, loitering a moment in the vestibule to converse in whispers about the sad event.”
43. effusive- adjective- outgoing
“…the surprise occasioned was largely counterfeit and not as clamorous and effusive as might have been under happier circumstances.”
44. laudation- noun – acts of praise
“…he almost forgot the nearly intolerable discomfort of being set up as a target for everybody’s gaze and everybody’s laudations.”
45. prodigious-adjective- huge, enormous
“each lad had an income, now, that was simply prodigious – a dollar for every week-day in the year and half of the Sundays.”
46. magnanimous-adjective- lofty and courageous
“…the Judge said with a fine outburst that it was a noble, a generous, a magnanimous lie – a lie that worthy to hold up its head and march down through the history…”