Fever 1793 Vocabulary Study
Unit Root/Base List
scope: “look at”, “watch”
trib: “pay” or “give”
limin: “beginning or end of things”
judex: “judge”
lum: “light”
duc: “ to lead”
sol: “alone”
equi: “equal”
Use this column to add
words related to the 8 Latin
roots/bases.
Specialized/Historical
Essential Vocabulary
Chapters 1-16
Chapters 1-16
 the War: American
Revolution
 Blanchard’s yellow
balloon: first hotair balloon flight in
America
 grippe: influenza
 apothecary:
pharmacy/pharma
cist
 Peale, Charles
Wilson: Early
American portrait
painter
 victuals: food
 sup: “to eat small
portions”
 liebchen: German
for “sweetheart”
 King George III:
monarch of
England during the
Revolutionary War
 mangle: a machine
for and smoothing
 abhor: v, “to hate or
despise”
 loiter: v, “to hang
around a place with
no purpose
 robust: adj. “healthy
and strong”
 miasma: n,
“dangerous,
foreboding, or
deathlike
atmosphere”
 bilious: adj.
“bloated with bile
from the liver”
 fervent: adj.
“showing intensity”
 demure: adj.
“modest and polite”
 quarantine: v,
“isolate due to
illness”
 pestilence: n,
“contagious,
spreading epidemic
clothes and
household linens”
 jalap and calomel:
n, herbs used as
medicine
 almshouse: n,
“charity home for
poor, infirm, or
aged”
 Potter’s Field: n,
“burial place for
unknown or the
poor unable to
afford proper
burial”
Unit Root/Base List
scope: “look at”, “watch”
trib: “pay” or “give”
limin: “beginning or end of things”
judex: “judge”
lum: “light”
duc: “ to lead”
sol: “alone”
equi: “equal”
Specialized/Historical
Chapters 17-29
 shift: n, “an
undergarment or
nightgown”
 wench: n,
“disrespectful
term for young
with devastating
consequences”
 cajoling: v, “to
persuade by flattery
or promises”
 slovenly: adj.
“careless, untidy
work or habits”
 destitute: adj.
“lacking food,
clothing, and
shelter”
 fractious: adj.
“uncooperative,
troublesome”
 ominous: adj.
“foreshadowing
evil”
 impudence: n.
“offensively bold”
 noxious:
adj.“unhealthy,
poisonous”
 wraith: n, “thin,
insubstantial, ghostlike”
Essential Vocabulary
 invalid: n, “a person
prevented by illness
from normal
activity”
 trifling: adj. “small,
insignificant”
 taper: v, “to
gradually slack off or
wear down”







woman”
Free African
Society: group
organized to
provide aid to
freed slaves
balderdash: n.
“nonsense
rapscallions: n.
“mischievous,
naughty men or
boys”
haberdasher: n.
“seller of men’s
clothes”
scullery maid: n.
“kitchen helper,
usually the “dirty
work”
dosed with
mercury: popular
but poisonous
medical treatment
shillings and
pence: coins of
small value
 relent: v, “slacken
off or give up”
 exorbitant: adj.
“excessive,
extreme”
 purge: v. “remove of
unnecessary items”
 solemn: adj.
“serious”
 scurrilous: adj.
“vulgar, evil; slander
spread to harm a
person’s
reputation”
 vanity: n, “excessive
pride in one’s
appearance, skills.”
 begrudge: v. “to
give unwillingly”