| A | B |
|---|
| avert | turn away or aside EXAMPLE SENTENCE: For a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip at him again; but Crooks sat perfectly still, his eyes averted, everything that might be hurt drawn in. |
| arouse | call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses) EXAMPLE SENTENCE: There was no personality, no ego—nothing to arouse either like or dislike. |
| indignation | a feeling of righteous anger EXAMPLE SENTENCE: She was breathless with indignation. |
| sullen | showing a brooding ill humor EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Candy repeated sullenly, “Got it caught in a machine.” |
| overwhelm | overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli EXAMPLE SENTENCE: We gonna have a room to ourself. We’re gonna have a dog an’ rabbits an’ chickens. We’re gonna have green corn an’ maybe a cow or a goat.” He stopped, overwhelmed with his picture. |
| meager | deficient in amount or quality or extent EXAMPLE SENTENCE: In the stable buck’s room a small electric globe threw a meager yellow light. |
| maul | injure badly by beating NOTES: "Mauled" seems like an exaggerated description for the condition of a book, but together with "tattered" ("worn to shreds; ruined"), it emphasizes how much the dictionary and civil code have been used. EXAMPLE SENTENCE: And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. |
| rivet | heavy pin having a head at one end and the other end being hammered flat after being passed through holes in the pieces that are fastened together EXAMPLE SENTENCE: and under the window itself a little bench for leather-working tools, curved knives and needles and balls of linen thread, and a small hand riveter. |
| mend | restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken EXAMPLE SENTENCE: On the wall by the window there were pegs on which hung a broken harness in process of being mended |
| hitch | connect to a vehicle: "hitch the trailer to the car" EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Slim said, “Carlson, you get the candy wagon hitched up. |
| poised | marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Curley was balanced and poised. |
| retreat | pull back or move away or backward EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat. |
| bemused | deeply absorbed in thought NOTES: Compare the adjective "bemused" with the verb "muse" in the list for Chapters 1-2--both words connect to thinking. But "bemused" can also be a synonym for "bewildered" (see list for Chapters 5-6). EXAMPLE SENTENCE: They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about. |
| reprehensible | bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure EXAMPLE SENTENCE: When Candy spoke they both jumped as though they had been caught doing something reprehensible. |
| rapt | feeling great rapture or delight EXAMPLE SENTENCE: He looked raptly at the wall over Lennie’s head. |
| orchard | garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, ‘cots, nuts, got a few berries. |
| subdue | hold within limits and control EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Slim gazed at him for a moment and then looked down at his hands; he subdued one hand with the other, and held it down. |
| misery | a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune EXAMPLE SENTENCE: If you want me to, I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with. |
| rheumatism | any painful disorder of the joints or muscles or connective tissues NOTES: This suggestion for how to deal with a creature who's in pain and who's no good to himself or others foreshadows the ending of the novel. EXAMPLE SENTENCE: “He’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” |
| hunch | the act of bending yourself into a humped position EXAMPLE SENTENCE: He wore his blue denim coat over his shoulders like a cape, and he walked hunched way over. |
| lynch | kill without legal sanction EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. |
| nuisance | a bothersome annoying person NOTES: A nuisance can also be "anything that disturbs, endangers life, or is offensive." Because George cares for Lennie, he is less likely to apply this harsher definition, even though he is aware of how Lennie's strength can be harmful. EXAMPLE SENTENCE: “’Course Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time,” said George. |
| receptive | open to arguments, ideas, or change EXAMPLE SENTENCE: He wanted to talk. Slim neither encouraged nor discouraged him. He just sat back quiet and receptive. |
| derision | contemptuous laughter NOTES: The structure of the example sentence shows that "derision" and "approval" are opposite reactions to the thuds (heavy dull sounds that suggest the horseshoes missed the target) and clangs (loud metallic sounds that suggest the horseshoes were well thrown). EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Through the open door came the thuds and occasional clangs of a horseshoe game, and now and then the sound of voices raised in approval or derision. |
| dusk | the time of day immediately following sunset EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Although there was evening brightness showing through the windows of the bunk house, inside it was dusk. |
