Sabrina Blair
8-4
February 6, 2009
VOCABULARY CHAPTERS 3-4
Dracula
Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues
Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the
sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and
write what you think the bolded words mean on the lines provided.
1. “…if he does himself all these menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do
them.”
Stupid, dumb, not smart
2. “Now, suppose I…wish to ship goods…to Newcastle, or Durham, or Harwich, or Dover,
might it not be that it could with more ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?”
Going to, exploring, visiting
3. “For a man who was never in the country, and who did not evidently do much in the way of
business, his knowledge and acumen were wonderful.”
Quickness, fast at something, speedy
4. “The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite
impregnable.”
Unable to get in, can not enter
5. “All three had brilliant white teeth, that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous
lips.”
Large, full, beautiful
6. “I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited – waited with a beating heart.”
Happy, calm, comfortable
7. “They took their hats off and made obeisance and many signs, which, however, I could not
understand any more than I could their spoken language…”
Manners, bow, respectful
8. “This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed cudgeling my brains, I heard without a
crack of whips and pounding and scraping of horses’ feet up the rocky path beyond the
courtyard.”
Questioning, thinking very hard, pondering
9. “I leaned back in the embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy myself
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Sabrina Blair
8-4
February 6, 2009
more fully in the aerial gamboling.”
Chair, couch, comfortable spot
10. “Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and the means of my doom; I was to
be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation.”
Scared, terrified, afraid
Part II: Determining the Meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
C. 1. menial
A. deliberate and intentional triggering of trouble or discord
E. 2. consigning
B. arising from or contributing to the satisfaction of sensual desires
G. 3. acumen
C. relating to work or a job regarded as for a servant
H. 4. impregnable
D. beating or striking as if with a heavy stick
B. 5. voluptuous
E. give over to the care of another; entrust
F. 6. languorous
F. lack of physical or mental energy; listlessness
J. 7. obeisance
G. quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight
D. 8. cudgeling
H. impossible to capture or enter by force
I. 9. embrasure
I. an opening in a thick wall for a window, often containing a bench
A. 10. Instigation
J. gesture, such as a curtsy, that expresses deference or respect
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