Chapter 117 - The Whale Watch — Vocabulary
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from Chapter 117 - The Whale Watch
- waif-pole (noun)
- A pole with a small flag or lantern thrust into a dead whale's body to mark ownership when the ship cannot immediately retrieve it.
- spectrally (adverb)
- In a ghostly or phantom-like manner; resembling a specter.
- Asphaltites (noun)
- An ancient name for the Dead Sea (Lacus Asphaltites), associated with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
- hearse (noun)
- A vehicle or carriage for carrying a coffin to a burial; in the prophecy, a symbolic vessel or structure associated with death.
- verily (adverb)
- Truly; certainly; in truth. An archaic intensifier.
- pall-bearers (noun)
- People who carry or escort a coffin at a funeral; here metaphorically applied to ocean waves.
- plumes (noun)
- Large, conspicuous feathers; in funeral context, the decorative feathered ornaments traditionally placed atop a hearse.
- befall (verb)
- To happen or occur, especially something bad or unfortunate.
- derision (noun)
- Contemptuous ridicule or mockery.
- hemp (noun)
- A plant fiber used to make rope; here carrying a double meaning of hangman's rope (gallows) and whale-line rope.
- windward (adjective)
- On the side facing the wind; the direction from which the wind is blowing.
- leeward (adjective)
- On the side sheltered from the wind; the direction toward which the wind is blowing.