English 11-3
Mrs. Schuman
Vocabulary List #1
Thursday, Jan. 20:
Rewrite a paragraph from a famous fairy tale in the style of The
Scarlet Letter, using ten of the vocabulary words from the list.
(For example: Could it be true that Goldilocks actually had three
bowls of porridge spread before her contrary to the usual
sumptuary rules limiting such largess? There was no one
present in this humble dwelling to offer a remonstrance, gentle
or otherwise, that would keep her from tasting all three.
Although a serpent flickered in her heart suggesting a shadow of
iniquity, she moved towards the bowls intent on satisfying her
deepest hunger!) 10 points
Friday, Jan. 28:
Quiz
Words:
1. augur (“the bearded physiognomies of these good people would have augured some awful
business at hand”) – fortell, indicate
2. boon (this boon was meant, above all things else, to keep the mother’s soul alive) - gift
3. contumely (“she had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public
contumely”) – contemptuous language, insults
4. dauntless (“But Pearl, who was a dauntless child”) – bold, fearless
5. ignominy (“her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which
she was enveloped”) – disgrace, shame
6. imp (“an imp of evil”) – a mischievous child, a little devil or demon
7. iniquity (“ to find yourself, at length, in a land where iniquity is searched out, and punished
in the sight of rulers and people, as here in our godly New England”) – sin, wickedness
8. lurid (“the scarlet letter threw a lurid glean along the dark passageway”) – ghastly pale,
glowing through a haze, startling or sensational
9. preternaturally (“Her mind, and especially her memory, was preternaturally active”) –
beyond normal, strange, beyond the normal course of nature
10. remonstrance (“had so often laid the impediment of a gentle remonstrance in her daughter’s
pathway’) – objection, warning
11. sagacity (“If the latter possess native sagacity, and a nameless something more, - let us call it
intuition”) - wisdom
12. scourged (“a Quaker, or other heterodox religionist, was to be scourged out of the town”) –
to whip, to punish with severity
13. sepulchres (“congregated sepulchres in the old churchyard) – tomb, grave
14. sojourn (“ it must gladden your heart, after your troubles and sojourn in the wilderness “) –
brief journey
15. sumptuary (“It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance
of fancy … but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the
colony”) – controlling extravagance, regulating habits