Animal Farm
by George Orwell
VOCABULARY – Chapter 1
scullery
• Small kitchen
• Work area at the back of a house
• He drew himself a last glass of
beer from the barrel in the
scullery.
ensconce
• Establish, settle in place
• Major was already ensconced on
his bed of straw.
benevolent
• Good, kindly
• Major was a majestic-looking pig,
with a wise and benevolent
appearance in spite of the fact
that his tushes had never been
cut.
cynical
• mocking, critical
• Benjamin seldom talked, and
when he did, it was usually to
make some cynical remark.
laborious
• Requiring hard work (labor)
• Let us face it: our lives are
miserable, laborious, and short.
fate
• development of events beyond
one’s control
• Even the horses and the dogs
have no better fate.
tyranny
• cruel, oppressive use of power
• All the evils of this life of ours
spring from the tyranny of human
beings.
dissentients
• those who oppose majority
opinion (those who dissent)
• There were only four
dissentients, the three dogs and
the cat, who was afterwards
discovered to have voted on both
sides.
vice
• Immoral or wicked behavior,
weakness in character
• Even when you have conquered
Man, do not adopt his vices. No
animal must ever live in a house, or
sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or
drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or
touch money, or engage in trade. All
the habits of Man are evil.
number 6 shot
• Small balls of lead (smaller
number = larger balls of lead)
• “He let fly a charge of number 6
shot into the darkness.”
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
VOCABULARY – Chapter 2
preeminent
• Superior, above all others
• Preeminent among the pigs were
two young boars named Snowball
and Napoleon.
vivacious
• Full of life; animated
• Snowball was a more vivacious
pig than Napoleon.
nimble
• Quick and light in movement
• The best known among them was
a small fat pig named Squealer,
with very round cheeks, twinkling
eyes, nimble movements, and a
shrill voice.
apathy
• Lack of interest or concern
• At the beginning they met with
much stupidity and apathy.
contrary
• Opposite, or opposing
• The pigs had great difficulty in
making them see that this was
contrary to the spirit of
Animalism.
With one accord
• All together, as one
• With one accord, they flung
themselves upon their
tormentors.
caper
• To skip or prance about
• All the animals capered with joy
when they saw the whips going
up in flames.
gambol
• To run and jump playfully
• They gamboled round and round.
spinney
• Small area of trees and bushes
• Then they made a tour of
inspection of the whole farm and
surveyed with speechless
admiration the ploughland, the
hayfield, the orchard, the pool,
the spinney.
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
VOCABULARY – Chapter 3
acute
• Sharp, intense
• Every mouthful of food was an
acute positive pleasure.
parasitical
• Freeloading, hanging on
• With the worthless parasitical
human beings gone, there was
more for everyone to eat.
chaff
• Husks, worthless part
• They had to tread the corn out in
the ancient style and blow away
the chaff with their breath.
shirk
• To avoid work or duty
• Nobody shirked--or almost
nobody.
obstinate
• Stubborn, unwilling to change
• Old Benjamin did his work in the
same slow obstinate way as he
had done it in Jones's time.
cryptic
• Puzzling, having hidden or secret
meaning
• The others had to be content
with this cryptic answer..
paddock
• Small field where horses are kept
or exercised
• It was resolved to set aside the
small paddock behind the
orchard as a home of rest for
animals who were past work.
maxim
• Short phrase expressing a rule or
truth
• The Seven Commandments could
in effect be reduced to a single
maxim.
propulsion
manipulation
• The act of driving or pushing
forward
• The act of handling or controlling
skillfully
• A bird's wing is an organ of
propulsion and not of
manipulation.
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
VOCABULARY – Chapter 4
perpetually
• Repeatedly; never ending
• Its owner was perpetually
involved in lawsuits.
• They were perpetually fighting
among themselves.
tractable
• Easy to control or influence
• Bulls which had always been
tractable suddenly turned savage
flogging
• A beating with a whip or stick
• Any animal caught singing it was
given a flogging on the spot.
irrepressible
• Not able to be restrained or
controlled (repressed)
• And yet the song was
irrepressible.
din
• Loud, unpleasant prolonged noise
• The blackbirds whistled it in the
hedges, the pigeons cooed it in
the elms, it got into the din of the
smithies and the tune of the
church bells.
fifteen stone
• British; one “stone” is equal to 14
pounds
• Snowball flung his fifteen stone
against Jones's legs.
ignominious
• Shameful, embarrassing,
disgraceful
• Within five minutes of their
invasion, they were in
ignominious retreat.
impromptu
• Spontaneous, done without
planning
• An impromptu celebration of the
victory was held immediately
posthumous
• Awarded (or occurring) after
death
• "Animal Hero, Second Class” was
conferred posthumously on the
dead sheep.
confer
• To grant, bestow, or award
• "Animal Hero, Second Class” was
conferred posthumously on the
dead sheep.
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
VOCABULARY – Chapter 5
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
VOCABULARY – Chapter 5
pretext
• A reason given that is not the real
reason!
• On every kind of pretext she
would run away from work and
go to the drinking pool
blithe
• Casual disregard or lack of
concern (negative)
• Mollie strolled blithely into the
yard.
manifestly
• obviously
• The pigs were manifestly cleverer
than the other animals
canvass
• To request or obtain support
• Napoleon was better at
canvassing support for himself in
between times.
unintelligible
• Impossible to understand
• The other animals found the
plans completely unintelligible
but very impressive.
aloof
• Cool and distant
• Only Napoleon held aloof.
faction
• Small, dissenting break-off group
(within a larger one)
• The animals formed themselves
into two factions.
• Benjamin was the only animal
who did not side with either
faction.
restive
• Unable to keep still
• The animals on the neighbouring
farms were more restive than
ever.
sordid
• Shameful, dirty, dishonorable
• In glowing sentences he painted a
picture of Animal Farm as it might
be when sordid labour was lifted
from the animals' backs.
marshal
• To arrange or put order to
• He set his ears back, shook his
forelock several times, and tried
hard to marshal his thoughts.