Glossary
A-C
Adze: a cutting tool that has a thin arched blade set at right angles to the handle and is used chiefly for shaping wood
"Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. of the adze" (As I Lay Dying, p. 5).
Aguer: variant of "ague," a malarial fever
"…shaking like he had an aguer" (As I Lay Dying, p. 188).
A holt: as in "a hold"
"…take a holt of my hand" (As I Lay Dying, p. 139).
Aiming to: as in "intending to"
"Are you aiming to leave it laying there?" (As I Lay Dying, p. 31).
Animal magnetism: a paranormal belief that humans and other organisms produce a magnetic force
"The animal magnetism of a dead body makes the stress come slanting, so the seams and joints of a coffin are made
on the bevel" (As I Lay Dying, p. 83).
Approbation: praise
"For a while still she looks down at him from the composite picture, neither with censure nor approbation" (As I Lay
Dying, p. 48).
A-tall: as in "at all"
"…I couldn't see nobody a-tall…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 69).
Auger: a hand tool with a helical shaft used for boring holes
"…the top of the box bored clean full of holes and Cash's new auger broke off in the last one" (As I Lay Dying, p. 73).
Bait: to feed an animal, especially on a journey
"…bait the mules…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 116).
Beast with two backs: a phrase meaning partners engaged in sexual intercourse (In Shakespeare's Othello, the
villain Iago says, "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two
backs.")
"Darl had a little spy-glass he got in France at the war. In it it had a woman and a pig with two backs and no face" (As
I Lay Dying, p. 254).
Beholden: owing gratitude, indebted
"We would be beholden to no man" (As I Lay Dying, p. 19).
Bevel: the angle of a surface that meets another at any angle but 90°
"I made it on the bevel" (As I Lay Dying, p. 82).
Birdsell wagon: a high-quality farm hauling wagon, not the cheap, rattling kind like the Bundrens own
"A rattling wagon is mighty dry weather, for a Birdsell" (As I Lay Dying, p. 34).
Blooden: related by blood
"…blooden children…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 256).
Brogans: a heavy shoe; especially a coarse work shoe reaching to the ankle
"Beside his chair his brogans sit" (As I Lay Dying, p. 11).
Bridge-piling: a heavy beam driven into the earth as support
"He said it had already covered the highest water-mark on the bridge-piling he had ever seen" (As I Lay Dying, p. 85).
Buckboard: a four-wheeled vehicle with a floor made of long springy boards
"They had already dragged the buckboard back from where Quick found it upside down straddle of the ditch about a
mile from the spring" (As I Lay Dying, p. 85).
Busted-out: plowed or harrowed in preparation for planting
"'You take off and stay in the house today," ma said. 'With that whole bottom piece to be busted out?' pa said" (As I
Lay Dying, p. 128).
Chinking: to fill narrow openings in
"The cottonhouse is of rough logs, from between which the chinking has fallen" (As I Lay Dying, p. 4).
Chocked: secured with block placed under a wheel, to keep the wheel from moving
"The wagon is hauled clear, the wheels chocked…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 157).
Christmas masts: according to Faulkner, comic masks worn by children at Christmas and Halloween
"Him so dead for sleep that Cora says his face looked like one of these here Christmas masts that had done been
buried a while and then dug up…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 73).
Conjure: to influence by magic
"I be durn if Anse don't conjure a man, some way" (As I Lay Dying, p. 193).
Cubistic: Cubism is a school of art developed in the early 20th century, characterized by the reduction and
fragmentation of natural forms into abstract, often geometric structures
"The square squat shape of the coffin on the sawhorses like a cubistic bug…"(As I Lay Dying, p. 219).
Curry-comb: a comb used for grooming horses
"He climbs onto the manger and drags the hay down and leaves the stall and seeks and finds the curry-comb" (As I
Lay Dying, p. 182).
Curvetting: a light leap by a horse
"With tossing mane and tail and rolling eyes the horse makes another short curvetting rush…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 12).
D-F
Dregs: the sediment in a liquid
"I fling the dipper dregs to the ground…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 11).
Durns't: "doesn't", although "durn" often substitutes for "damn" or "damned"
"If he had been a man, he would a been there instead of making his sons do what he durns't" (As I Lay Dying, p.
153).
Ejaculent: a sudden, short exclamation
"We hear sudden voices, ejaculent" (As I Lay Dying, p. 229).
Engendered: produce, procreate
"She is looking out the window, at Cash stooping steadily at the board in the failing light, laboring on toward darkness
and into it as though the stroking of the saw illumined its own motion, board and saw engendered" (As I Lay Dying, p.
48).
Ere: traditionally, ere is a conjunction for "before," or "rather than." Faulkner's characters seem to use it as in "ever"
or "every."
"I mislike undecision as much as ere a man" (As I Lay Dying, p. 17).
"She will be grateful to ere a one of you" (As I Lay Dying, p. 182).
Et: as in "eat," "ate"
"…maybe throwed away for him to lie about the dogs et it" (As I Lay Dying, p. 38).
Expiation: to make amends
"And she [Addie] said, 'My daily life is an acknowledgment and expiation of my sin'" (As I Lay Dying, p. 167).
Female dope: patent medicine used to alleviate pain of menstrual cramps
"So I thought that maybe her ma or somebody had sent her in for some of the female dope…" (As I Lay Dying, p.
199).
Fetlock: a tuft of hair on the back of the leg above the hoof of a horse
"Fetlock, hip, shoulder and head; smell and sound" (As I Lay Dying, p. 57).
Fixing up to: preparing to
"It's fixing up to rain" (As I Lay Dying, p. 18).
Flotsam: floating debris
"It [the current] clucks and murmers among the spokes and about the mules' knees, yellow, skummed with flotsam…"
(As I Lay Dying, p. 141).
Forehanded: prudent or well to do
"Well, I [Anse] got a little property. I'm forehanded; I got a good honest name" (As I Lay Dying, p. 171). Frailed:to
whip or beat
"Inventing devilment to devil her till I would have frailed him time and time" (As I Lay Dying, p. 21).
Frail: to whip or beat
"Inventing devilment to devil her till I would have frailed him time and time" (As I Lay Dying, p. 21).
Frieze: This is one of four words of Latin origin that Faulkner uses in his description of the fire (frieze, proscenium,
nimbus and portière)
"They are like two figures in a Greek frieze…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 221).
Fulcrum: the point on which a lever pivots
"A piece of rotting log for fulcrum…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 52).
G–I
High-blooded face: red-faced, angry
"Jewel's eyes look like pale wood in his high-blooded face." (As I Lay Dying, p. 17).
Hit: as in "it"
"Hit hadn't happened then" (As I Lay Dying, p. 56).
Hitch-rein: the connection between a wagon or a buggy and the horse
"I run this way and that as they [the horses] rear and jerk at the hitch-rein, striking" (As I Lay Dying, p. 55).
Holp: as in "help"
"But you couldn't a holp it" (As I Lay Dying, p. 90).
Horse-physic: medicine for horses (Doc Peabody is unavailable, so Jewel brings Uncle Billy Varner, a veterinarian,
to treat Cash's leg.)
"…Uncle Billy had come back with him, with his satchel of horse-physic" (As I Lay Dying, p. 185).
Illumined: brought to light, made understandable
"She is looking out the window, at Cash stooping steadily at the board in the failing light, laboring on toward darkness
and into it as though the stroking of the saw illumined its own motion, board and saw engendered" (As I Lay Dying, p.
48).
Implacable: impossible to appease
"That's the trouble with this country: everything, weather, hangs on too long. Like our rivers, our land: opaque, slow,
violent; shaping and creating the life of man in its implacable and brooding image" (As I Lay Dying, p. 45).
Irremediable: incurable
"She looks at pa; all her failing life appears to drain into her eyes, urgent, irremediable" (As I Lay Dying, p. 47).
J-L
Jest: as in "just"
"I jest thought…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 44).
Jouncing: bounce
"…the stick jouncing on my shoulder" (As I Lay Dying, p. 54).
Keer: as in "care"
Dewey Dell a-takin good keer of her…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 44).
Ketch: as in "catch"
"Cant nobody else ketch hit" (As I Lay Dying, p. 42).
Kilt: as in "killed"
"He kilt her. He kilt her" (As I Lay Dying, p. 54).
Laidby: a cultivated crop that will require no further attention until it is picked at harvest time
"…between the green rows of laidby cotton…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 3).
Lawed: penalized
"He should be lawed for treating her so" (As I Lay Dying, p. 187).
Leastways: at least
"Leastways, we might as well go on and make like we did" (As I Lay Dying, p. 74).
Lessen: as in "unless"
"Lessen you behave, we will leave you" (As I Lay Dying, p. 63).
Lick: a sudden hard stroke
"One lick less" (As I Lay Dying, p. 15).
Liefer: as in "like to"
"I'd liefer go back there" (As I Lay Dying, p. 200).
M–O
Negative: to negate, nullify
"I gave Anse Dewey Dell to negative Jewel" (As I Lay Dying, p. 176).
Nigh/Nigher: near/nearer
"He is carrying a fish nigh long as he is" (As I Lay Dying, p. 30).
"'It won't float like a saw,' Jewel says. 'It'll float nigher to a saw than a hammer will,' Vernon says" (As I Lay Dying, p.
161).
Nimbus: a classical radiance said to surround a classical deity when on earth
"…he appears to be enclosed in a thin nimbus of fire" (As I Lay Dying, p. 222).
Off: euphemism for poor, or unfortunate; as a farm term, "off" refers to the horse or ox on the far right side of the
driver.
"...Peabody's team come up, lathered, with the broke harness dragging and the neck-yoke betwixt the off critter's
legs..." (As I Lay Dying, p. 68).
Otherlike: as in "otherwise"
"I have done things but neither better nor worse than them that pretend otherlike…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 38).
Ourn: as in "ours"
"'She'll want to go in ourn,' Pa says" (As I Lay Dying, p. 18).
Outen: as in "out in" or "out of"
"Washed clean outen the ground it will be" (As I Lay Dying, p. 90).
P-R
Proscenium: the wall that separates the stage from the auditorium and provides the arch that frames the stage
"…the dissolving proscenium of the doorway…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 221).
Pussel-gutted: bloated
"Get the goddamn stuff out of sight while you got a chance, you pussel-gutted bastard. You sweet son of a bitch" (As
I Lay Dying, p. 13).
Queer: odd, unusual (not as in "homosexual")
"It was Darl, the one that folks say is queer, lazy, pottering…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 24).
Rack: variant of "wrack," to cause the ruin of, fall apart
"If this team don't rack to pieces. Snopes must have fed them on sawdust" (As I Lay Dying, p. 196).
Rawhiding: a whipping with a whip made from untanned cattle skin
"You got to take a rawhiding for thinking they meant it" (As I Lay Dying, p. 118).
Recapitulant or recapitulation: repeated more concisely
"How do our lives ravel out into the no-wind, no-sound, the weary gestures wearily recapitulant…" (As I Lay Dying, p.
207).
Repair: to betake oneself, go
"…repair to that home in which you have put a living lie…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 177).
Retrograde: tending toward or resulting in a worse or previous state
"Motionless, the tall buzzards hang in soaring circles, the clouds giving them an illusion of retrograde" (As I Lay
Dying, p. 95).
Right smart: a goodly amount
"The horse is still a right smart piece away" (As I Lay Dying, p. 106).
Right smart: a goodly amount
"The horse is still a right smart piece away" (As I Lay Dying, p. 106).
Runnel: a brook, a narrow channel for water
"…about Jewel's ankles a runnel of yellow neither water nor earth swirls…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 49).
Ruther: as in "rather"
"Wouldn't you ruther have bananas?" (As I Lay Dying, p. 66).
Rutting: to have a strong sexual impulse at the reproductive period; said of livestock
"'Rutting,' Cash said" (As I Lay Dying, p. 131).
S-U
Tableau: a striking incidental scene, or a scene on stage when actors freeze and then resume action
"…they are like two figures carved for a tableau savage in the sun" (As I Lay Dying, p. 12 ).
Tarnation: an expression of annoyance, derived from the expression "eternal damnation" or, possibly, from "entire
nation"
"Why in the tarnation you put it on there" (As I Lay Dying, p. 224).
Tight: difficult to deal with or get out of
"If you get in a tight, maybe some of them'll get here tomorrow and help you" (As I Lay Dying, p. 50)
Tooth-cropped: a coined phrase from the verb "crop," meaning to appear or occur unexpectedly, as in "crop up"—
when Jewel's horse jerks its head back, it bares its teeth suddenly and unexpectedly (most would say "teeth
flashing")
"[The horse's] head flashes back, tooth-cropped" (As I Lay Dying, p. 183).
Tote: to haul, or a load or burden
"I told them that if they wanted it [Addie's coffin] to tote and ride on a balance, they would have to" (As I Lay Dying, p.
165)
Tother: as in "the other"
"…neither because it's one or tother… (As I Lay Dying, p. 234).
Trestle: a horizontal beam held up by two pairs of divergent legs and used as a support
"He [Cash] holds the two planks on the trestle…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 4).
Trifling: of little importance or value
"…clinging to some trifling animal to whom they [women] never were more than pack-horses" (As I Lay Dying, p. 45).
Turgid: swollen
"She watches Cash stooping at the plank, the turgid savage gleam of the lantern slicking on the raincoat as he
moves" (As I Lay Dying, p. 79).
Uncurried: not groomed
"Looking like an uncurried horse dressed up…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 123).
Uninferant: without inference, with no hint of
"…so dreamlike so as to be uninferant of progress…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 108).
V-Z
Victuals: food for human consumption
"…so I could get my mouth fixed where I could eat God's own victuals as a man should…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 37).
Volitional: with decisiveness, consciousnesses and intent
"For an instant it resists, as though volitional…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 97).
Wedge: a piece of material, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge for insertion into a narrow crevice
"I have seen him [Cash] spend an hour trimming out a wedge like it was glass he was working…" (As I Lay Dying, p.
87).
Withers: part of a horse between the shoulder blades
"They descend the hill in a series of spine-jolting jumps, Jewel high, leech-like on the withers…" (As I Lay Dying, p.
13).
Yit: as in "yet"
"Have you told her yit?" (As I Lay Dying, p. 45).
Yonder: at an indicated place
"'Yonder,' Cash says, jerking his head toward the lane" (As I Lay Dying, p. 106).