Chapter 69 - The Funeral — Vocabulary
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from Chapter 69 - The Funeral
- sepulchre (noun)
- A stone burial chamber or tomb, especially one cut into rock or built above ground.
- insatiate (adjective)
- Impossible to satisfy; endlessly greedy or hungry.
- rapacious (adjective)
- Aggressively greedy or grasping; predatory and voracious.
- poniards (noun)
- Light daggers or stabbing weapons with slender blades.
- augment (verb)
- To make greater in size, number, or degree; to increase or intensify.
- doleful (adjective)
- Expressing sorrow; mournful, sad, or melancholy.
- punctiliously (adverb)
- With extreme attention to detail, formality, or correct behavior.
- peradventure (adverb)
- (archaic) Perhaps; by chance; possibly.
- vulturism (noun)
- The practice of preying on the weak, dead, or vulnerable; predatory opportunism.
- desecrated (adjective)
- Treated with violent disrespect; violated the sanctity of something sacred or revered.
- roods (noun)
- Units of land measurement (approximately a quarter of an acre each); used here figuratively to convey vast area and volume.
- orthodoxy (noun)
- Adherence to conventional, established, or traditional beliefs and practices, especially without questioning them.