Chapter 104 - The Fossil Whale — Vocabulary
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from Chapter 104 - The Fossil Whale
- expatiate
- To speak or write at length or in detail.
- Leviathan
- A biblical sea monster; used throughout Moby-Dick as an epithet for the whale.
- grandiloquent
- Pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, especially in a way intended to impress.
- chirography
- Handwriting or the art of writing by hand.
- antediluvian
- Of or belonging to the time before the biblical Flood; extremely old or antiquated.
- fossiliferous
- Containing or yielding fossils.
- Cetacean
- Relating to or denoting whales, dolphins, and porpoises; marine mammals of the order Cetacea.
- pre-adamite
- Existing or occurring before Adam; before the existence of humankind.
- osseous
- Consisting of or made of bone; bony.
- postdiluvian
- Of or relating to the period after the biblical Flood.
- planisphere
- A flat representation or map of the celestial sphere, showing the stars visible at a given time and place.
- antemosaic
- Existing before Moses; predating the Mosaic books of the Bible.
- orlop-deck
- The lowest deck of a ship, especially a warship, used for storage.
- spiracle
- The blowhole of a whale or dolphin.
- lexicographer
- A person who compiles dictionaries.