College Vocabulary · Grade 12 · Week 8
20 words for the week · pairs with Composition lesson 2.4.
Reading: the Composition lesson 2.4, "Citations and the Finished Thesis," and this week's literature book, The Divine Comedy (Dante, Longfellow tr.), the section for Week 8 (public-domain text, Project Gutenberg).
Theme of the week: A citation renders honor to the scholar whose labor you have used; it is a small act of justice on every page. "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour." (Romans 13:7).
Rhythm: 4 words a day, Monday to Friday. Each day: read the entry aloud, copy the quoted sentence into the writing notebook, and write one sentence of your own. Friday: learn the last 4 words, then take the quiz.
Sources: ★ = quoted exactly from this week's reading (the lesson or the literature book) · ✝ = KJV (1769 text), quoted exactly · ◆ = quoted exactly from another work on the approved booklists (public-domain text) · ✎ = original example sentence
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A violent person, especially one involved in crime.
From the reading: "Nothing could be more becoming to your complexion than that ruffian’s rouge.”" (Jane Eyre)
Root:Italian ruffiano, a pimp or scoundrel.
Part of speech: verb (also a noun)
Definition: To search unsystematically through a mass or receptacle.
From the reading: "And this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this post-haste and rummage in the land." (Hamlet)
Root:French arrimage, stowing cargo.
Part of speech: adjective (also a verb)
Definition: (Of a person's face or complexion) of an unhealthy yellow or pale brown color.
From the reading: "There came to me in dreams a stammering woman, Squint in her eyes, and in her feet distorted, With hands dissevered and of sallow hue." (The Divine Comedy)
Root:Old English salo, dusky.
Part of speech: noun (also a verb)
Definition: An ointment used to soothe or heal; something that soothes wounded feelings.
Context (original sentence): Her kind letter was a salve to his wounded pride.
Root:Old English sealf, ointment.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Affected or hypocritical holiness; self-righteousness.
Context (original sentence): The hypocrite's sanctimony fooled no one who had seen him cheat at cards.
Root:Latin sanctimonia, holiness.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Composure or coolness, especially in a trying circumstance.
Context (original sentence): The captain's sangfroid during the storm steadied the frightened passengers.
Root:French sang-froid, cold blood.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To satisfy a desire or appetite to the full.
From the reading: "I see the modern Pilate so relentless, This does not sate him, but without decretal He to the temple bears his sordid sails!" (The Divine Comedy)
Root:Old English sadian, to satiate.
Part of speech: verb (also a noun)
Definition: To walk in a slow, relaxed manner.
From the reading: "The Prince was good-natured enough to allow quiet and well-behaved people to saunter through." (The Lost Prince)
Root:Middle English santren, to muse, of uncertain origin.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A person blamed for the wrongdoings or mistakes of others (from the goat sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16).
From the reading: "Methinks that thou and thine abettor soon Will rue your plot to drive the scapegoat out." (The Oedipus Trilogy)
Root:coined by Tyndale (1530) for the goat of Leviticus 16.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To sink one's own ship deliberately by holing it; to deliberately cause a plan to fail.
Context (original sentence): The crew scuttled the ship rather than let the pirates take her.
Root:Spanish escotilla, a hatchway.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Becoming old; showing the effects of aging.
Context (original sentence): The senescent oak still bore acorns every autumn.
Root:Latin senescere, to grow old (senex, old).
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Characteristic of or resembling a seraph or seraphim; angelic.
From the reading: "I, with the Doctor Seraphic, maintain, That a word which is only conceived in the brain Is a type of eternal Generation; The spoken word is the Incarnation." (Poems of Longfellow)
Root:Hebrew seraphim, the burning ones (Isaiah 6).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
Context (original sentence): By serendipity, the lost letter turned up inside the very book she was reading.
Root:coined by Horace Walpole (1754) from The Three Princes of Serendip.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: (Of rows of people or things) standing close together.
From the reading: "Then they rushed upon the serried spears, but in vain." (A Book of Golden Deeds)
Root:French serrer, to press close.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group; a word used as a test of belonging (Judges 12).
Context (original sentence): Correct pronunciation of the old Latin hymn was a shibboleth of the cathedral choir.
Root:Hebrew shibboleth, an ear of grain (Judges 12:6).
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To walk in a furtive, unobtrusive, or timid manner, especially sideways.
From the reading: "I saw him through the window, seizing his horse’s mane, and mounting in his blundering brutal manner, and sidling and backing away." (Great Expectations)
Root:back-formation from sideling, sideways.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Lean and muscular; tough and strong.
From the reading: "He was over the average height, but appeared shorter from the extreme breadth of his shoulders; his arms were long and sinewy, and his personal strength immense." (In Freedom's Cause)
Root:Old English sinu, a tendon.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A length of yarn or thread loosely coiled and knotted; a tangled or complicated arrangement.
From the reading: "I cannot disentangle this skein, Nor wind it rightly upon the reel." (Poems of Longfellow)
Root:Old French escaigne, of unknown origin.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: (Of a horse) nervous and inclined to shy; (of a person) restless or excitable.
From the reading: "Haley’s horse, which was a skittish young colt, winced, and bounced, and pulled hard at his halter." (Uncle Tom's Cabin)
Root:perhaps from Old Norse skjota, to shoot.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Characterized by a lack of care, thought, or organization.
From the reading: "Then I prythee be merry; thy wit shall not go slipshod." (King Lear)
Root:originally, wearing loose shoes or slippers.
Part A. Words in context (2 points each). Choose the meaning of the word as used in the sentence.
1. "And this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this post-haste and rummage in the land." Here rummage most nearly means
A) To search unsystematically through a mass or receptacle B) Of an unhealthy yellow or pale brown color C) Affected or hypocritical holiness D) Characterized by a lack of care, thought, or organization
2. "I, with the Doctor Seraphic, maintain, That a word which is only conceived in the brain Is a type of eternal Generation; The spoken word is the Incarnation." Here seraphic most nearly means
A) Of an unhealthy yellow or pale brown color B) Characterized by a lack of care, thought, or organization C) Characteristic of or resembling a seraph or seraphim D) To walk in a furtive, unobtrusive, or timid manner, especially sideways
3. "Then they rushed upon the serried spears, but in vain." Here serried most nearly means
A) To satisfy a desire or appetite to the full B) To walk in a slow, relaxed manner C) Standing close together D) A violent person, especially one involved in crime
4. "Her kind letter was a salve to his wounded pride." Here salve most nearly means
A) A violent person, especially one involved in crime B) An ointment used to soothe or heal C) The occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way D) To satisfy a desire or appetite to the full
Part B. Sentence completion (1 point each). Each sentence comes from this week's entries; supply the word in the form used there. Word bank: sate, sangfroid, scuttle, slipshod, shibboleth, senescent, scapegoat, skittish, saunter, sinewy
5. Correct pronunciation of the old Latin hymn was a ______ of the cathedral choir.
6. The crew ______ the ship rather than let the pirates take her.
7. "Then I prythee be merry; thy wit shall not go ______."
8. The captain's ______ during the storm steadied the frightened passengers.
9. "I see the modern Pilate so relentless, This does not ______ him, but without decretal He to the temple bears his sordid sails!"
10. "Haley’s horse, which was a ______ young colt, winced, and bounced, and pulled hard at his halter."
11. "Methinks that thou and thine abettor soon Will rue your plot to drive the ______ out."
12. "He was over the average height, but appeared shorter from the extreme breadth of his shoulders; his arms were long and ______, and his personal strength immense."
Part C. Synonyms and antonyms (1 point each).
13. Synonym of sanctimony: (saunter / sanctimoniousness / salve)
14. Synonym of skein: (sinewy / coil / serendipity)
15. Synonym of sidle: (sangfroid / edge / skittish)
16. Antonym of serendipity: (sate / senescent / misfortune)
Part D. Analytical sentence (6 points). In two or three sentences, make a claim about this week's reading, quote it once, and use at least three of these words correctly: saunter, senescent, sallow.
1. A 2. C 3. C 4. B
5. shibboleth 6. scuttled 7. slipshod 8. sangfroid 9. sate 10. skittish 11. scapegoat 12. sinewy (distractors: saunter, senescent)
13. sanctimoniousness 14. coil 15. edge 16. misfortune
Part D scoring: 2 for a clear claim, 2 for an accurate quotation, 2 for three week words used correctly. (8 + 8 + 4 + 6 = 26.)