A Raisin in the Sun: Act III

colonialism

(n.) an attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory

esteemed

(adj.) highly regarded; respected

rummage

(v.) a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion)

bourgeois

(n.) a term for the middle class. A social class characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture. They derive social and economic power from employment, education, and wealth, as opposed to the inherited power of aristocratic family of titled land owners granted feudal privileges.

keen

(adj.) slang for "very good"

gait

(n.) a person's manner of walking

bureau

(n.) furniture with drawers

scheme

(n.) a large-scale plan

falter

(v.) to hesitate, stumble, lose courage; to speak hesitatingly; to lose drive, weaken, decline

grovel

(v.) to show submission or fear, usually to receive a person's forgiveness or favor.

epitaph

(n.) a brief statement written on a tomb or gravestone

reverie

(n.) a daydream; the condition of being lost in thought

hoodlum

(n.) a rowdy destructive adolescent

precariously

(adv.) dangerously lacking in security or stability

diminish

(v.) to make or become smaller or less; to reduce