CHAPTER 18 — Vocabulary
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from CHAPTER 18
- aristocracy (noun)
- The highest social class; people of noble or privileged birth and standing.
- decanters (noun)
- Ornamental glass bottles used to hold and serve wine or spirits.
- pommel (noun)
- The raised front part of a horse's saddle.
- frivolishness (noun)
- Twain's dialectal spelling of "frivolousness" — silliness or lack of seriousness.
- liberty-pole (noun)
- A tall pole traditionally erected as a symbol of liberty; here used as a simile for standing rigidly upright.
- bowie (noun)
- Short for bowie knife — a large sheath knife with a clipped point, associated with the American frontier.
- junketings (noun)
- Festive gatherings or celebrations, especially involving eating and drinking.
- ornery (adjective)
- Unpleasant, difficult, or of poor quality; a dialectal form of "ordinary" meaning low or contemptible.
- puncheon (noun)
- A roughly split log with one flat side, used as flooring in frontier buildings.
- ransacked (verb)
- Searched thoroughly and roughly through something, looking for items of value or interest.
- preforeordestination (noun)
- Huck's garbled version of "predestination" — the theological doctrine that God has predetermined all events, including who will be saved.
- cavorting (verb)
- Prancing or galloping about in a lively and noisy manner.
- bulge (noun)
- An advantage or upper hand in a contest or confrontation.
- corn-dodgers (noun)
- Small, hard cornbread cakes baked or fried, a staple food of the American frontier.
- smothery (adjective)
- Suffocating, stifling, or uncomfortably confined.