Category Archives: Glossary

Muslin

noun
1.a cotton fabric made in various degrees of fineness and often printed, woven, or embroidered in patterns, especially a cotton fabric of plain weave, used for sheets and for variety of other purposes.
“I was about to turn around and keep on my way to where the muslin was, when I heard him say, “No, no.”
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Page 228)

Cistern

noun
1.a reservoir, tank, or container for storing or holding water or other liquid.
2.Anatomy. a reservoir or receptacle of some natural fluid of the body.
“Once Stamp Paid brought you a coat, got the message to you, saved your life, of fixed the cistern he took the liberty of walking in your door as though if were his own”
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Page 203)

Vexed

adjective
1.irritated; annoyed: vexed at the slow salesclerks.
2.much discussed or disputed: a vexed question.
3.tossed about, as waves.
“Was she vexed by the loss, the free and unasked-for revival of gossip by the man who had helped her cross the river and who was her friend as well as Baby Suggs'”
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Page 199)

Evangelists

noun
1.a Protestant minister or layperson who serves as an itinerant or special preacher, especially revivalist.
2.a preacher of the gospel.
3.(initial capital letter) any of the writers (Matthew,Mark, Luke, and John) of the four Gospels.
4.(in the primitive church) a person who first brought the gospel to city or region.
5.(initial capital letter) Mormon Church. a patriarch.
6.a person marked by evangelical enthusiasm for or support of any cause.
“Perhaps it was the smile, or maybe the ever-ready love she saw in his eyes–easy and upfront, the way colts, evangelists and children look at you: with love you don’t have to deserve–that made her go ahead and tell him what she had not told Baby Suggs, the only person she felt obligated to explain anything to.”
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Page 190)

Wharf

noun, plural wharves

1.a structure built on the shore of or projecting into a harbor, stream, etc., so that vessels may be moored alongside to load or unload or to lie at rest; quay; pier.
2.Obsolete.

  1. a riverbank.
  2. the shore of the sea.

“When I got to the wharf, I ran into three Aleut cousins, who sat on a wooden bench and stared out at the bay and cried.”

What You Pawn I Will Redeem by Sherman Alexie (Paragraph 3 at 2 P.M.)

Flaws

noun
1.a feature that mars the perfection of something;defect; fault: beauty without flaw; the flaws in our plan.
2.a defect impairing legal soundness or validity.
3.a crack, break, breach, or rent.
“Because they don’t want to be perfect, because only God is perfect, Indian people sew flaws into their powwow regalia.”
What You Pawn I Will Redeem by Sherman Alexie

Larynx

noun, plural larynges

[luhrin-jeez] (Show IPA), larynxes.

1.Anatomy. a muscular and cartilaginous structure lined with mucous membrane at the upper part of the trachea in humans, in which the vocal cordsare located.
2.Zoology.

  1. a similar vocal organ in other mammals.
  2. a corresponding structure in certain lower animals.

“Rosa believed that something had gone wrong with her vocal cords, with her windpipe, with the cave of her larynx: Magda was defective, without a voice; perhaps she was deaf; there might be something amiss with her intelligence; Magda was dumb.

The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick (Paragraph 8)

Febrile

adjective
1.pertaining to or marked by fever; feverish.
“Rosa saw that today Magda, deserted, was going to die, and at the same time a fearful joy ran in Rosa’s two palms, her fingers were on fire, she was astonished, febrile: Magda, in the sunlight, swaying on her pencil legs, was howling.
The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick (Paragraph 8)

Ravenous

adjective
1.extremely hungry; famished; voracious:feeling ravenous after a hard day’s work.
2.extremely rapacious:a ravenous jungle beast.
3.intensely eager for gratification or satisfaction.
“There was not enough milk; sometimes Magda sucked air; then she screamed. Stella was ravenous. Her knees where tumors on sticks, her elbow chicken bones.”
The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick (First Paragraph)