Chapter 26 - Knights and Squires — Vocabulary
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from Chapter 26 - Knights and Squires
- superfluousness (noun)
- The quality of being more than is needed or desired; excess.
- condensation (noun)
- The act of making something more dense or compact; a reduction to essential qualities.
- revivified (adjective)
- Restored to life or consciousness; reinvigorated.
- pantomime (noun)
- A dramatic performance using gestures and actions without words; expressive action.
- endued (verb)
- Provided or furnished with a quality or ability; endowed.
- portents (noun)
- Signs or warnings that something momentous or calamitous is about to happen; omens.
- presentiments (noun)
- Intuitive feelings that something is about to happen, especially something bad; forebodings.
- vicissitudes (noun)
- Changes of circumstances or fortune, typically ones that are unwelcome or unpleasant.
- abasement (noun)
- The action of degrading or humiliating someone; a state of being brought low.
- ignominious (adjective)
- Deserving or causing public disgrace or shame; deeply humiliating.
- investiture (noun)
- The formal conferring of authority, rank, or office, often with ceremonial robes.
- knaves (noun)
- Dishonest or unscrupulous people; rogues.
- ethereal (adjective)
- Extremely delicate and light; heavenly or celestial in quality.
- omnipresence (noun)
- The state of being present everywhere at the same time; a divine attribute.
- cullest (verb)
- Archaic second-person singular form of "cull," meaning to select or choose from a group.
- swart (adjective)
- Dark-complexioned; swarthy.