Chapter 103 - Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton — Vocabulary
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from Chapter 103 - Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton
- leviathan
- A large sea creature; used throughout Moby-Dick as a synonym for the whale, evoking the biblical monster.
- circumference
- The distance around the outside of a circular or rounded body.
- invested
- Clothed or covered; here meaning the whale fully wrapped in its flesh, blubber, and skin.
- vitals
- The essential internal organs of the body.
- stocks
- A framework of timbers on which a ship is built or supported during construction.
- climax
- The highest or most intense point in a series or progression.
- seemly
- Fitting or appropriate; proper in appearance.
- Arsacides
- An archipelago in the Solomon Islands; Melville uses the name for the fictional Pacific island group where the whale skeleton is displayed.
- mould
- A form or template that shapes something; here meaning the skeleton as a representation of the whale's true shape.
- attenuated
- Made thin or reduced in size, force, or value.
- vertebrae
- The individual bones that make up the spinal column.
- masonry
- Stonework or brickwork; here used metaphorically to describe the massive, block-like vertebrae.
- flukes
- The two lobes of a whale's tail, which are boneless and made of dense connective tissue.
- divers
- Various; of several different kinds (archaic usage).