Traversing
Anent
Crux
Surge
Temerity
Puritanical
Phosphate
Surreptitous
Refute
Elm
Blase
Prim
Progeny
Protectorate
Atrocious
Paternalistic
Doing this glossary was actually very helpful to me. It really forced me to slow down my reading and look for the words I did not understand. It even made me second guess myself with words that I thought I knew as well.
Novel: Quicksand
Traversing – Noun
Definition: something that crosses or lies across
Passage: She arrived at the administration building in a mild rage, as unreasonable as it was futile, but once inside she had a sudden attack
of nerves at the prospect of traversing that
great outer room which was the workplace of
some twenty odd people.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/traverse
Understanding: Helga is nervous about crossing a room
Novel: Quicksand
Passage: How her maladjustment had
bothered him I She had a faint notion that it
was behind his ready assent to her suggestion
anent a longer engagement than, originally, they
had planned.
Definition: About
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anent
Understanding: Helga is talking about how they thought her engagement was longer then they had planned on it being.
Novel: Quicksand
Passage: That was the crux of the whole matter.
For Helga, it accounted for everything, her
failure here in Naxos, her former loneliness in
Nashville. It even accounted for her engagement to James.
Definition:Â an essential point requiring resolution or resolving an outcome
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crux
Understanding: This is when Helga realizes that she will not be able to solve he engagement issue. It is a problem that needs a resolution. Therefore it is a crux.
Quicksand
Passage: Helga again felt a surge of hot anger
and seething resentment. And again it subsided
in amazement at the memory of the consider-
able applause which had greeted the speaker
just before he had asked his God’s blessing
upon them.
Definition:Â to move very quickly and suddenly in a particular direction
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surge
Understanding: I understand that Helga felt a sudden rush of anger and resentment towards her job at Naxous
Temerity
Novel: Quicksand
Passage:Â Teachers as well as students
were subjected to the paring process, for it tolerated
no innovations,, no individualism. Ideas
it rejected, and looked with open hostility on one and all who had the temerity to offer a suggestion or ever so mildly express a disapproval.
Definition: The quality of being confident and unafraid of danger or punishment especially in a way that seems rude or foolish
Understanding: This passage is when Ester realizes that she is confident enough to leave Naxous and realizes that she is not afraid of punishment.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temerity
Phosphate
[fos-feyt]
surreptitious
[sur-uhp-tish-uhs]
Quicksand
Refute – Noun
Definition: Disprove, rebut
Passage:Â This great community, she thought, was
no longer a school. It had grown into a ma-
chine. It was now a show place in the black belt,
exemplification of the white rain’s magnanim-
ity, refutation of the black man’s inefficiency.
Understanding; I understand that Helga thinks that the school she is working at is disproving to the black man’s inefficiency.
Source:Â http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/refute?s=t
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
