Scarlett Letter Vocab Ch 5-9

Vivify

Vivify

to give life to

“She would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might () and embody their images of woman’s frailty…”

Morbid

characterized by gloomy or unwholesome feelings

“….she came forth into the sunshine, which, falling on all alike, seemed to her sick and () heart…”

Progenitor’s

ancestors in a direct line

“ did not fail to extend its influence over our stern ()…”

Sumptuary

regulating moral habits

“even while () laws forbade these and similar extravagances to the plebeian order…”

Plebeian

a common person

“even while sumputary laws forbade these and similar extravagances to the () order…”

Emolument

salary, profit from a job

"…afforded still another possibility of toil and ()…”

Voluptuous

giving pleasure to the senses

“She had in her nature a rich, () oriental characteristic….”

Revile

to abuse with words

“The poor often () the hand that was stretched forth to succor them…”

Succor

to go to the aid of, relieve

“The poor often reviled the hand that was stretched forth to () them…”\

Callous

being hardened, feeling no emotion

“The spot never grew (); it seemed, on contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily tourture.”

Insidious

crafty, tricky

“Could they be other than the () whisphers of the bad angel, who would fain have persuaded the struggling woman….”

Fain

gladly, willingly

“Could they be other than the insidious whisphers of the bad angel, who would () have persuaded the struggling woman….”

Aver

to assert with confidence

“They () that the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth, but was red-hot with infernal fire.”

Efficacy

effectiveness

“Man had marked this woman’s sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous ()…”

Luxuriance

rich abundance

“….out of the rank () of a guilty passion.”

Mutability

ability or tendency to change

“This outward () indicated…”

Perpetuate

to make last for an indefinite time

“Above all, Hester’s spirit, at that epoch was () in Pearl.”

Conjuration

the act of summoning by magic

“…but by some irregularity in the process of ()…”

Variance

disagreement

“…unearthly, or at () with ordinary fashions…”

Enmity

hostility, active ill will

“All this () and passion had Pearl inheritied out of Hester’s heart.”

Query

an inquiry

“But Hester could not resolve the (), being herself in a dismal labyrinth of doubt.”

Labyrinth

maze

“But Hester could not resolve the query, being herself in a dismal () of doubt.”

Gesticulation

the act of making gestures

“…with the humorous () of a little imp….”

Ludicrous

amusingly absurd

“It may appear singular, and, indeed, not a little (), that an affair of this kind…”

Epoch

a particular period of time

“At that () of pristine simplicity, however, matters of even slighter public interest, and of far less intrinsic weight, than the welfare of Hester and her child…”

Pristine

original

“At that epoch of () simplicity, however, matters of even slighter public interest, and of far less intrinsic weight, than the welfare of Hester and her child…”

Intrinsic

essential, inherent

“At that epoch of pristine simplicity, however, matters of even slighter public interest, and of far less () weight, than the welfare of Hester and her child…”

Caprice

a sudden change of mind

“Often, nevertheless, more from () than necessity, she demanded to be taken up in arms; but was soon as imperious to be set down again…”

Imperious

arrogant, overbearing

“Often, nevertheless, more from caprice than necessity, she demanded to be taken up in arms; but was soon as () to be set down again…”

Pestilence

a contagiou, rapidly spreding disease

“She resembele, in her fierce pursuit of them, an infant ()….”

Tome

A large heavy book

Uere, on the cushion, lay a folio ()…”

Cabalistic

having a secret, mystical meaning

“It was futher decorated with stange and seemingly () figures…”

Exigency

an urgent situation

“…the () of this new country had transformed Governor Bellingham into a soldier.”

Annal

A written account of events

“…he Reverend Mr. Blackstone, the first settler of the peninsula, that half-mythological personage, who rides through our early () seated on the back of a bull.”

Expatiate

to write or talk much

“…appeared to be showing off his estate and () on his projected improvements.”

Albiet

even though, although

“… lessons whereof my child may be the wiser and better, () they can profit nothing to myself.”

Temporal

temporary

“…for thy little one’s () and ternal welfare…”Ve

hement

showing strong feeling

“…while the shadow of his figure… was tremulous with the () of his appeal.”

Infamy

evil reputation

“() was babbling around her in the public market place.”

Fervent

having or showing great warmth or intensity of spirit

“… was considered by his more () admirers as little less than a heavenly-ordained apostle…”

Enumerate

to count or list

“Roger Chillingworth possessed all, or most, of the attributes above ()…”

Emaciated

thin, feeble

“His form grew ()…”

Erudition

Extensive knowledge

“Here the pale clergyman piled up his library, rich with parchment-bound folios of the Fathers and lore of Rabbis and monkish ()…”

Incantation

chanting or uttering of the words purporting to have magical power

“…during his Indian captivity, had enlarged is medical attainments by joining in the () of the savage priests…”

Emissary

secret agent

“Dimmesdale was haunted by either Satan himself, or Satan’s ().”