Grade 6 College Vocabulary, Week 12

Definition: to give something as a gift or an honor; (older sense) to put away or store.

From the reading: "they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others."

KJV link: The rich fool in Christ's parable kept his harvest for himself: "What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?" (Luke 12:17). There bestow has the older sense "to store." Winslow's guests bestowed their deer as a gift.

Synonyms:

give, grant, confer

Antonyms:

withhold, withdraw, deny

Root:Middle English bistowen, from be- (thoroughly) + stow (Old English stow, "a place"): to put something in its place, and later to place it in someone's hands.

Definition: to take a share of something, especially food or drink; to have a part in.

From the reading: "we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

KJV: "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14).

Synonyms:

share, participate, join in

Antonyms:

abstain, refrain, decline

Root:Formed from partaker, an older word meaning "part-taker": one who takes a part.

Definition: To receive guests and give them food and welcome; to amuse; to hold an idea in mind and consider it. Tests often check the third sense: "to entertain a doubt.".

From the reading: "whom for three days we entertained and feasted"

KJV: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews 13:2).

Synonyms:

host, receive; (sense 2) amuse, delight; (sense 3) consider, ponder

Antonyms:

neglect, turn away; (sense 2) bore; (sense 3) dismiss, reject

Root:French entretenir, from Latin inter (among) + tenere (to hold): to hold someone in your company.

Definition: pleasant activity done for rest and refreshment after work.

From the reading: "amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms"

Synonyms:

leisure, pastime, amusement

Antonyms:

labor, toil, work

Root:Latin recreatio, "restoration," from re- (again) + creare (to create, make). Rest after work makes a person new again, the way God rested from His work of creation.

Definition: a very large amount; more than enough.

Context: Winslow admits that the harvest was not always so great, but in 1621 the Pilgrims had an abundance, and they wanted their friends in England to know it.

KJV: Christ warns that our words show what fills us: "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34).

Synonyms:

plenty, profusion, wealth

Antonyms:

scarcity, lack, dearth

Root:Latin abundantia, from ab- (from) + undare (to flow in waves), from unda (a wave): wealth that overflows like water.

Definition: to fill again; to restore a supply that has been used up.

Context: After the first hard winter, the Pilgrims' fall harvest and the four hunters' birds replenished the colony's empty stores.

KJV: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). In 1611 replenish simply meant "to fill." God gave man the work of filling the earth He had made.

Synonyms:

refill, restock, renew

Antonyms:

deplete, drain, exhaust

Root:Old French replenir, "to fill again," from Latin re- (again) + plenus (full).

Definition: the feeling of being thankful for a kindness or gift.

From the reading: "by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." Winslow's gratitude goes first to God, and then he wants to share.

KJV link: "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name" (Psalm 100:4). The word gratitude is not in the verse, but the verse is full of it.

Synonyms:

thankfulness, appreciation, gratefulness

Antonyms:

ingratitude, thanklessness

Root:Latin gratitudo, from gratus, "pleasing, thankful." (Grace comes from the same family.)

Definition: food and drink that keep a person alive; anything that supports life or strength.

From the reading: "They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week." That is a week's sustenance from one day's hunting.

KJV: Paul tells the men of Lystra that God "left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17).

Synonyms:

nourishment, food, provision

Antonyms:

starvation, famine, deprivation

Root:Latin sustinere, "to hold up," from sub (up from under) + tenere (to hold): what holds a person up.

Definition: cheerful, friendly and full of good humor.

Context: Adam's father, Roger, is a jovial minstrel who wins friends with songs and stories in every hall and inn.

Synonyms:

merry, genial, good-humored

Antonyms:

gloomy, sullen, morose

Root:Latin jovialis, "of Jove" (Jupiter). Old astrologers wrongly believed that people born under the planet Jupiter were cheerful. The superstition is gone, but the word stayed.

Definition: to steal, especially small things or in small amounts.

Context: When the minstrel boy Jankin pilfers Adam's beloved dog, Nick, Adam's long search across England begins.

KJV link: "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth" (Ephesians 4:28).

Synonyms:

steal, filch, purloin

Antonyms:

return, restore, give

Root:Old French pelfrer, "to rob," from pelfre, "booty, plunder." (The old word pelf, "stolen goods" or "ill-gotten money," is a cousin.)

Definition: done secretly and slyly so as not to be noticed, often from guilt.

Context: A thief like Jankin must move furtively, and Adam has to learn to read the signs of someone who does not want to be found.

Synonyms:

sly, stealthy, sneaky

Antonyms:

open, frank, aboveboard

Root:Latin furtivus, from furtum (theft), from fur (thief). A furtive look is literally a thief's look.

Definition: hard to find, catch or hold; hard to understand or remember.

Context: For a long time Adam's father and his dog both stay elusive, and Adam often seems to reach a place just after they have gone.

Synonyms:

slippery, evasive, fleeting

Antonyms:

obtainable, accessible, catchable

Root:Latin eludere, "to escape by a trick," from e- (out) + ludere (to play).

Definition: refusing to give up; stubbornly determined.

Context: Through rain, hunger and many wrong turns, Adam keeps up his dogged search for his father and for Nick.

Synonyms:

persistent, determined, unflagging

Antonyms:

halfhearted, irresolute, wavering

Root:English dog + -ed: like a dog that will not let go of its bone. (A fitting word for a book about a boy and his dog.)

Definition: alone; without companions; (also) single, only one.

Context: Separated from his father, Adam travels as a solitary boy, yet monks, merchants and plain folk show him kindness along the way.

KJV: "God setteth the solitary in families" (Psalm 68:6).

Synonyms:

lone, isolated, single

Antonyms:

accompanied, social, together

Root:Latin solitarius, from solus, "alone." (Sole and solo come from the same root.)

Definition: happening by chance, not by plan; (in common use) lucky.

Context: On his journey Adam has meetings that look fortuitous, but in the Christian world of the story, chance is never the last word.

KJV link: "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). What seems fortuitous to men is still under God's providence.

Synonyms:

accidental, chance, unplanned

Antonyms:

intended, deliberate, planned

Root:Latin fortuitus, from fors, "chance." (Fortune is a cousin.)

Definition: friendly, pleasant and easy to like.

Context: Adam is an amiable boy who makes friends easily, and his friendliness helps him on the road.

KJV: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!" (Psalm 84:1). In this verse amiable has its older meaning: lovely, worthy of love.

Synonyms:

friendly, good-natured, genial

Antonyms:

hostile, unfriendly, surly

Root:Old French amiable, from Latin amicabilis, "friendly," from amicus, "friend."

Definition: to name a source or quote it as proof or as an example.

Context: In your confirmation, cite Winslow's letter by name and date, and quote it exactly at least once.

Synonyms:

quote, name, refer to

Antonyms:

omit, ignore, overlook

Root:Latin citare, "to summon, call." To cite a source is to call it forward like a witness.

Definition: to agree; to share the same opinion or to give the same account.

Context: Governor Bradford's later history concurs with Winslow that the Pilgrims had plenty that fall.

KJV link: God's law asked for witnesses who concur: "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15).

Synonyms:

agree, coincide, accord

Antonyms:

disagree, differ, dissent

Root:Latin concurrere, from con- (together) + currere (to run): accounts that run together.

Definition: to make something seem larger, better or worse than it really is.

Context: Later storytellers sometimes exaggerated the first Thanksgiving, adding buckles, pies and a fixed menu that Winslow never mentions.

Synonyms:

overstate, inflate, magnify

Antonyms:

understate, minimize, downplay

Root:Latin exaggerare, "to heap up," from ex- (thoroughly) + agger (a heap): piling more on a story than belongs there.

Definition: (verb) to explain more fully and add details; (adjective) detailed and carefully worked out.

Context: In paragraph 2 of your confirmation, elaborate on the names, dates and numbers that make Winslow's account clear.

Synonyms:

(verb) expand, develop, explain; (adjective) detailed, intricate

Antonyms:

(verb) simplify, condense; (adjective) plain, simple

Root:Latin elaborare, "to work out," from e- (out) + labor (work). Winslow gave thanks for "the fruit of our labors"; an elaborate argument is the fruit of the writer's labor.