| A | B |
|---|
| sagacity | keen sense of perception and understanding |
| adamantine | hard, resolute |
| skylarking | running and jumping about |
| alacrity | enthusiasm, cheerfulness |
| evanescent | transient, vanishing |
| gantlet | a double file or a grouping of men past whom others must proceed |
| expectorate | to spit |
| pariah | a despised or rejected person |
| ferule | punishment, especially the type administered in 19th century schools |
| portentous | marvelous, amazing |
| eclat | acclaim |
| pathos | a quality that arouses feelings of pity and compassion |
| slathers | great quantities |
| upbraid | to criticize severly or find fault with |
| zenith | at the height or top of |
| cogitating | thinking or meditating |
| accouterments | equipment or accessories |
| ensconced | settled in comfortably |
| lugubrious | exaggeratedly sad or mournful |
| quailed | cowered, shrunk back in fear |
| ostentatiously | showy, pretentiously |
| miscreant | evil person |
| caterwauling | making a harsh catlike cry |
| festooning | hanging in garlandlike fashion |
| purloined | stole |
| obtruded | intruded upon, made noticeable |
| credulous | ready to believe on the slightest evidence |
| conflagrations | fires |
| shoal | a sandbank or sandbar |
| soliloquized | talked to oneself |
| transfixed | motionless |
| bullyrag | to intimidate by bullying |
| sallied | set out, departed |
| ciphered | decoded |
| milksop | unmanly, weakly |
| palpable | tangible or perceptible |
| gunwale | the upper edge of the side of a boat |
| ostentatious | indulging in a pretentious display |
| auspicious | favorable |
| stalwart | strong and healthy |
| brace | two of a kind |
| blanched | turned colorless |
| temperance tavern | a tavern that serves only nonalcoholic drinks |
| frescoed | marked |
| whetted | stimulated |
| apathy | lack of interest or feeling |
| avocations | distractions |
| faculties | powers of the mind |
| vestibule | a room between an outer door and a connecting room |
| effusive | outgoing |
| laudation | acts of praise |
| prodigious | huge, enormous |
| magnanimous | lofty and courageous |
| lacerate | to cause emotional pain |
| vexation | irritation |
| frontispiece | an illustration usually facing the title page of a book |
| languidly | listlessly, lazily |
| imminence | immediacy |
| opulent | ample, plentiful |
| edification | spiritual movement |
| mesmerizer | hypnotist |
| contemptuous | feeling scorn or disdain |
