Vocabular from Young Goodman Brown

By Nathanial Hawthorne

Approximately in the order that the words appear in the story.

Threshold (noun)

aptly, as in “aptly named”

prithee

tarry, as in “tarry with me this night, dear husband”

twixt, as in “twixt, now and sunrise”

“dost thou,” as in “what, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou”

dusk

thee

aire, as in “melancholy air”

smote, as in “his heart smote him”

wretch

errand

methought

resolve as in “resolve for the future”

haste

dreary

peculiarity

solitude

multitude

figure, as in “the figure of a man”

grave, as in “grave and decent attire”

agone, as in “full fifteen minutes agone”

rank, as in “same rank of life”

considerable, as in “bearing a considerable resemblance to him”

clad, as in “simply clad””

air, as in “an . . . air of one who knew the world”

abashed, as in “have felt abashed”

affairs, as in “were it possible that his affairs should call him thither”

thither, as in “call him thither”

“but the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable”

wrought, as in “curiously wrought”

ocular, as in “an ocular deception”

dull, as in ”a dull pace”

thee

covenant, as in “having kept covenant by meeting thee here”

whence, as in “return whence I came”

scuples, as in “I have scruples touching the matter"

wot’st, as in “I have scruples touching the matter thou wot'st of”

“since the days of the martyrs”

smartly, as in “lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem”

kindle

hearth

fain, as in “I would fain be friends with you for their sake”

“to boot” as in “we are a people of prayer, and good works to boot"

abide, as in “We . . . abide no such wickedness”

“general acquaintance” as in “I have a very general acquaintance here in New England”

Howbeit, as in "Howbeit, I have nothing to do with the governor and council”

diverse, as in “divers towns”

husbandman

gravity, as in “listened with due gravity”

irrepressible

mirth

nettled

e'en

“exemplary dame” as in “a pious and exemplary dame”

catechism

marvel, as in "I marvel they never spoke of these matters;”

whither

betake

singular, as in “singular speed”

indistinct

forsooth

worship, as a noun as in “your worship”

gossip, as a noun as in “old gossip”

smallage, cinquefoil and wolf’s bane, as in “juice of smallage, and cinquefoil, and wolf's bane

cackling

twinkling, short for in the twinkling of an eye, as used in “we shall be there in a twinkling"

magi, as used in “Egyptian magi”

cognizance, as in “take cognizance”

“cast up” as in “cast up his eyes in astonishment”

serpentine

exhorted

auditor, as in “spring up in the bosom of his auditor”

plucked

boughs

withered

budge, as in “not another step will I budge on this errand”

acquaintence, as in “said his acquaintance composedly”

composedly, as in “said his acquaintance composedly”

applauding, as in “applauding himself greatly”

meditations

verge, as in “the verge of the forest”

grave, as in “grave old voices, conversing soberly”

mingled

athwart, as in “the faint gleam from the strip of bright sky athwart which they must have passed”

durst, as in “thrust his head as he durst”

discerning, as in “without discerning so much as a shadow”

vexed

ecclesiastical, as in “ecclesiastical council”

pluck, as in “pluck a switch”

switch, as in “pluck a switch”

“Indian powwows”

deviltry

goodly, as in “a goodly young woman”

"Spur up” as in “Spur up, or we shall be late”

faint, as in ”faint and overburdened with the heavy sickness of his heart

zenith, as in “a cloud . . . hurried across the zenith”

aloft

aught, as in “whether he had heard aught but the murmur of the old forest”

lamentations, as in “uttering lamentations”

shrank

“an inspiration” as in blasphemy, as in “an inspiration of horrid blasphemy”

blasphemy, as in “an inspiration of horrid blasphemy”

“giving vent”, as in “giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy”

demoniac

lurid

blaze

benighted

peal

unison, as in “his cry was lost to his own ear by its unison with the cry of the desert”

interval

stole, as in “he stole forward”

peopling, as in “peopling the heart of the solitary woods”

quoth

extremity, as in “at one extremity of an open space, hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest”

foliage

summit

fitfully

pendent, as in “each pendent twig and leafy festoon”

festoon, as in “each pendent twig and leafy festoon”

devoutly

benignantly

pew

pulpit

“high dame”

repute

espy

obscure

bedazzled

sanctity

venerable

revered

irreverently

consorting

pious

chaste

“dewy virgin”

dissolute, as in “dissolute lives and women of spotted fame”

spotted, as in “women of spotted fame”

incantation

the pious

conceive

unfathomable

mortal

anthem

“the unconcerted wilderness”

mingling

“in homage”

loftier

impious

similitude, as in “no slight similitude”

loathful

well-nigh, as in “well-nigh sworn that the shape of his own dead father beckoned him”

wreath

veiled

“rampant hag”

proselyte, as a noun

“canopy of fire”

fiend

visage

sable

reverenced

righteousness

aspiration

“hoary-bearded elders”

“wanton words”

“widows' weeds”

penetrate

inexhaustibly

“unhallowed altar”

“yet undeceived”

partake and partakers

polluted, as in “polluted wretches”

solitude

bestow

venerable

“an anathema”

lattice, as in “stood in the early sunshine at her own lattice”

catechize

“evil omen”

meditative

fervid

eloquence

unutterable

blasphemer

eventide

“hoary corpse”

“a goodly procession”