The Jilting of Granny Weatherall Vocabulary
Voc. List for The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
1. marvel
something that causes feelings of wonder
You’re a marvel, but you must be careful or you’re going to be good and sorry.”
2. pneumonia
respiratory disease characterized by lung inflammation
I’ll call for you when I want you…Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-leg and double pneumonia?
3. tactful
having a sense of what is considerate in dealing with others
She was always being tactful and kind.
4. dutiful
willingly obedient out of a sense of respect
Dutiful and good: “So good and dutiful,” said Granny, “that I’d like to spank her.”
5. fuss
an excited state of agitation
It was good to have everything clean and folded away, with the hair brushes and tonic bottles sitting straight on the white, embroidered linen: the day started without fuss and the pantry shelves laid out with rows of jelly glasses and brown jugs and white stone-china jars with blue whirligigs and words painted on them: coffee, tea, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice: and the bronze clock with the lion on top nicely dusted off.
6. rummage
search haphazardly
While she was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar.
7. clammy
unpleasantly cool and humid
While she was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar.
8. plague
annoy continually or chronically
She believed she’d just plague Cornelia a little.
9. hasty
excessively quick
Little hasty glances and tiny gestures tossed around here and over her head saying, “Don’t cross her, let her have her way, she’s eighty years old,” and she sitting there as if she lived in a thin glass cage.
10. intently
with strained or eager attention
She asked herself intently, but she could not remember.
11. vanity
feelings of excessive pride
Wounded vanity, Ellen, said a sharp voice in the top of her mind.
12. waver
move in a rising and falling pattern
Her eyelids wavered and let in streamers of blue-gray light like tissue paper over her eyes.
13. dispute
have a disagreement over something
They disputed your every word.
14. gauzy
so thin as to transmit light
Then Hapsy melted from within and turned flimsy as gray gauze and the baby was a gauzy shadow
15. monstrous
distorted and unnatural in shape or size
Something not given back… Her breath crowded down under her ribs and grew into a monstrous frightening shape with cutting edges; it bored up into her head, and the agony was unbelievable: Yes, John, get the Doctor now, no more talk, the time has come.
16. agony
intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
Something not given back… Her breath crowded down under her ribs and grew into a monstrous frightening shape with cutting edges; it bored up into her head, and the agony was unbelievable: Yes, John, get the Doctor now, no more talk, the time has come.
17. absurd
inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense
He always had a funny story of some sort, usually about an Irishman who made his little mistakes and confessed them, and the point lay in some absurd thing he would blurt out in the confessional showing his struggles between native piety and original sin.
18. piety
righteousness by virtue of being religiously devout
He always had a funny story of some sort, usually about an Irishman who made his little mistakes and confessed them, and the point lay in some absurd thing he would blurt out in the confessional showing his struggles between native piety and original sin.
19. hustle
move or cause to move energetically or busily
So there was nothing, nothing to worry about anymore, except sometimes in the night one of the children screamed in a nightmare, and they both hustled out and hunting for the matches and calling, “There, wait a minute, here we are!”
20. insist
assert to be true
But the man insisted the copy was perfect, it was very rich and handsome.
21. frippery
something of little value or significance
No sort of light at all, just frippery.
22. solemn
dignified and somber in manner or character
She felt like singing too, but she put her hand in the bosom of her dress and pulled out a rosary, and Father Connolly murmured Latin in a very solemn voice and tickled her feet.
23. amethyst
a transparent purple variety of quartz; used as a gemstone
I wanted to give Cornelia the amethyst set--Cornelia, you’re to have the amethyst set, but Hapsy’s to wear it when she wants, and, Doctor Harry, do shut up.
24. dyspepsia
a digestive disorder characterized by heartburn or nausea
I meant to finish the alter cloth and send six bottles of wine to Sister Borgia for her dyspepsia.
25. dwindle
become smaller or lose substance
The blue light from Cornelia’s lampshade drew into a tiny point in the center of her brain, it flickered and winked like an eye, quietly it fluttered and dwindled.
Voc. List for The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
1. marvel
something that causes feelings of wonder
You’re a marvel, but you must be careful or you’re going to be good and sorry.”
2. pneumonia
respiratory disease characterized by lung inflammation
I’ll call for you when I want you…Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-leg and double pneumonia?
3. tactful
having a sense of what is considerate in dealing with others
She was always being tactful and kind.
4. dutiful
willingly obedient out of a sense of respect
Dutiful and good: “So good and dutiful,” said Granny, “that I’d like to spank her.”
5. fuss
an excited state of agitation
It was good to have everything clean and folded away, with the hair brushes and tonic bottles sitting straight on the white, embroidered linen: the day started without fuss and the pantry shelves laid out with rows of jelly glasses and brown jugs and white stone-china jars with blue whirligigs and words painted on them: coffee, tea, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice: and the bronze clock with the lion on top nicely dusted off.
6. rummage
search haphazardly
While she was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar.
7. clammy
unpleasantly cool and humid
While she was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar.
8. plague
annoy continually or chronically
She believed she’d just plague Cornelia a little.
9. hasty
excessively quick
Little hasty glances and tiny gestures tossed around here and over her head saying, “Don’t cross her, let her have her way, she’s eighty years old,” and she sitting there as if she lived in a thin glass cage.
10. intently
with strained or eager attention
She asked herself intently, but she could not remember.
11. vanity
feelings of excessive pride
Wounded vanity, Ellen, said a sharp voice in the top of her mind.
12. waver
move in a rising and falling pattern
Her eyelids wavered and let in streamers of blue-gray light like tissue paper over her eyes.
13. dispute
have a disagreement over something
They disputed your every word.
14. gauzy
so thin as to transmit light
Then Hapsy melted from within and turned flimsy as gray gauze and the baby was a gauzy shadow
15. monstrous
distorted and unnatural in shape or size
Something not given back… Her breath crowded down under her ribs and grew into a monstrous frightening shape with cutting edges; it bored up into her head, and the agony was unbelievable: Yes, John, get the Doctor now, no more talk, the time has come.
16. agony
intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
Something not given back… Her breath crowded down under her ribs and grew into a monstrous frightening shape with cutting edges; it bored up into her head, and the agony was unbelievable: Yes, John, get the Doctor now, no more talk, the time has come.
17. absurd
inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense
He always had a funny story of some sort, usually about an Irishman who made his little mistakes and confessed them, and the point lay in some absurd thing he would blurt out in the confessional showing his struggles between native piety and original sin.
18. piety
righteousness by virtue of being religiously devout
He always had a funny story of some sort, usually about an Irishman who made his little mistakes and confessed them, and the point lay in some absurd thing he would blurt out in the confessional showing his struggles between native piety and original sin.
19. hustle
move or cause to move energetically or busily
So there was nothing, nothing to worry about anymore, except sometimes in the night one of the children screamed in a nightmare, and they both hustled out and hunting for the matches and calling, “There, wait a minute, here we are!”
20. insist
assert to be true
But the man insisted the copy was perfect, it was very rich and handsome.
21. frippery
something of little value or significance
No sort of light at all, just frippery.
22. solemn
dignified and somber in manner or character
She felt like singing too, but she put her hand in the bosom of her dress and pulled out a rosary, and Father Connolly murmured Latin in a very solemn voice and tickled her feet.
23. amethyst
a transparent purple variety of quartz; used as a gemstone
I wanted to give Cornelia the amethyst set--Cornelia, you’re to have the amethyst set, but Hapsy’s to wear it when she wants, and, Doctor Harry, do shut up.
24. dyspepsia
a digestive disorder characterized by heartburn or nausea
I meant to finish the alter cloth and send six bottles of wine to Sister Borgia for her dyspepsia.
25. dwindle
become smaller or lose substance
The blue light from Cornelia’s lampshade drew into a tiny point in the center of her brain, it flickered and winked like an eye, quietly it fluttered and dwindled.
