CHAPTER 39 — Vocabulary
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain — key words and definitions
Vocabulary Words from CHAPTER 39
- bulliest
- Superlative dialect form of "bully," meaning the finest, best, or most impressive.
- raising Cain
- An idiom meaning to cause a great uproar or disturbance; to make a loud, angry commotion.
- hickry
- Dialect spelling of "hickory"; refers to a hickory switch or stick used for punishment.
- allycumpain
- Dialect form of "elecampane," a plant whose roots were used as a folk remedy to treat insect stings and skin irritation.
- generly
- Dialect spelling of "generally," meaning usually or in most cases.
- whoop to Jericho
- A hyperbolic expression meaning to scream so loudly it could be heard an impossibly great distance away.
- blithesome
- Cheerful, lively, or full of high-spirited activity; here used ironically to describe a cabin swarming with pests.
- skasely
- Dialect spelling of "scarcely," meaning barely or hardly.
- nonnamous
- Tom Sawyer's malapropism for "anonymous," meaning written without identifying the author.
- Tooleries
- Tom's mispronunciation of "Tuileries," the royal palace in Paris from which Louis XVI attempted to flee during the French Revolution.
- mullet-headed
- Stupid, thick-headed, or dull-witted; a colloquial insult comparing someone to a mullet fish.
- smouched
- Dialect term meaning to steal, snatch, or pilfer something quietly.
- evasion
- The formal term Tom insists on for a stylish escape, particularly one involving royalty or a prisoner of distinction.
- dasn't
- Dialect contraction of "dared not" or "durst not," meaning did not dare to.
- fagged out
- Exhausted, worn out, or extremely tired from hard work.
- confiding
- Trusting or unsuspecting; inclined to place faith in others without questioning their motives.