Cultish

Cultish – Adjective

 Description:  intended to appeal to a small group of fashionable people

 Source:  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cultish

 Found in:  Scenes From the Smith Family Christmas by Zaide Smith

 Quote:  “Poor Denzil; off the plane from Jamaica into bitter England, and stuck in the most cultish, insular day in the nuclear-family calendar.” (page 2, second paragraph from bottom).

In this quote the narrator is referring to her uncle Denzil who has been back from Jamaica to live with them in England. Knowing this word now made me understand that Denzil is coming from a crowded family and is now included in the narrator’s small family.

Chintz

Chintz – Noun

  • A printed cotton fabric, glazed or unglazed, used especially for draperies.

Found in: “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! but John would not hear of it.”

This passage means that she wanted a different room, A much prettier one, with flowers on the windows with a curtain made of a fancy fabric.