Allusion and Vocab Oct 14

Question 1

Adonis

Answer 1

handsome young man; Aphrodite loved him.

Question 2

Brobdingnagian

Answer 2

gigantic; huge; immense. from Brobdingnag, an imaginary country of giants in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726)

Question 3

Casanova

Answer 3

a man who is amorously and gallantly
attentive to women; a promiscuous man.; Giovanni
Jacopo Casanova De Seingalt (1725-98), an Italian
adventurer who established a legendary reputation as a
love

Question 4

David and Bathseba

Answer 4

represents a big sin; from King

David’s affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah.

Question 5

Gorgon

Answer 5

a very ugly or terrible person, especially a
repulsive woman.; Medusa, any one or three sisters have
snakes for hair and faces so horrible that anyone who
looked at them turned to stone

Question 6

Horatio Alger

Answer 6

one who believes that a person can
make it on his own merits; from (1832-99) American
writer of inspirational adventure books

Question 7

Iridescent

Answer 7

a play of colors producing rainbow effects;

from Iris, goddess of the rainbow

Question 8

Judas

Answer 8

a traitor or a treacherous kiss (a Judas kiss); one of the 12 Apostles, notorious for betraying Jesus.

Question 9

Laconic

Answer 9

using or marked by the use of few words,

brief; Lakonikos, fromthe reputation of the Spartans for brevity of speech

Question 10

Martial

Answer 10

suited for war or a warrior; from Mars, the

Roman God of War

Question 11

Milquetoast

Answer 11

a timid, weak, or unassertive person;
from Casper Milquetoast, who was a comic strip
character created by H.T. Webster

Question 12

Panglossian

Answer 12

blindly or misleadingly optimistic; after

Dr. Pangloss in Candide by Voltaire, a pedantic old tutor

Question 13

Prodigal Son

Answer 13

a wasteful son who disappoints his
father; from the NT parable of a man with two sons.
When he split his estate between the two, the younger
son gathered his fortune and left home to live the wild
life, while the older son stayed home to work in the
fields. When the younger son spent all of the money, he
came crawling back to his father, who accepted him,
pardoning his error by saying he was “lost but was
found.”

Question 14

Scrooge

Answer 14

a bitter and/or greedy person; from Charles
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, an elderly stingy miser who
is given a reality check by 3 visiting ghosts

Question 15

Shanghai

Answer 15

to cheat or steal, to make drugs, liquor, etc..
to bring or get by trickery or force; a seaport in East
China, from Shanghai because sailor for voyages there
were often secured by illicit means

Question 16

Physiognomy

Answer 16

a person’s facial features or expression, especially when regarded as indicative of character or ethnic origin.

Question 17

Blase’

Answer 17

unimpressed or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often before.

Question 18

Retinue

Answer 18

a group of advisers, assistants, or others accompanying an important person.

Question 19

Lugubrious

Answer 19

looking or sounding sad and dismal.; mournful

Question 20

Dissemble

Answer 20

conceal one’s true motives, feelings, or beliefs.

Question 21

Adulation

Answer 21

obsequious flattery; excessive admiration or praise.

Question 22

Feckless

Answer 22

lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.

Question 23

Allay

Answer 23

diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry).

Question 24

Palpitate

Answer 24

beat rapidly, strongly, or irregularly.

Question 25

Capacious

Answer 25

having a lot of space inside; roomy.

Question 26

Insipid

Answer 26

lacking flavor.