Daisy Miller Vocab Flashcards
There are, indeed, many hotels, for the entertainment of tourists is the business of the place, which, as many travelers will remember, is seated upon the edge of a remarkably blue lake—a lake that it behooves every tourist to visit.
To be in the best interest of; to benefit.
The shore of the lake presents an unbroken array of establishments of this order, of every category, from the “grand hotel” of the newest fashion, with a chalk-white front, a hundred balconies, and a dozen flags flying from its roof, to the little Swiss pension of an elder day, with its name inscribed in German-looking lettering upon a pink or yellow wall and an awkward summerhouse in the angle of the garden.
An annuity paid regularly as benefit due to a retired employee, serviceman etc. in consideration of past services, originally and chiefly by a government but also by various private pension schemes.
In short, money given to retired people by the government
There is a flitting hither and thither of “stylish” young girls, a rustling of muslin flounces, a rattle of dance music in the morning hours, a sound of high-pitched voices at all times.
Lightweight cotton fabric
There is a flitting hither and thither of “stylish” young girls, a rustling of muslin flounces, a rattle of dance music in the morning hours, a sound of high-pitched voices at all times.
A strip of decorative material, usually pleated, attached along one edge; a ruffle.
But at the “Trois Couronnes,” it must be added, there are other features that are much at variance with these suggestions: neat German waiters, who look like secretaries of legation; Russian princesses sitting in the garden; little Polish boys walking about held by the hand, with their governors; a view of the sunny crest of the Dent du Midi and the picturesque towers of the Castle of Chillon.
A diplomatic mission.
The child, who was diminutive for his years, had an aged expression of countenance, a pale complexion, and sharp little features.
Very small.
It was not at all insipid, but it was not exactly expressive; and though it was eminently delicate, Winterbourne mentally accused it—very forgivingly—of a want of finish.
Flat; lacking character or definition.
He thought it very possible that Master Randolph’s sister was a coquette; he was sure she had a spirit of her own; but in her bright, sweet, superficial little visage there was no mockery, no irony.
A woman who flirts or plays with people’s affections.
But Miss Miller did not make this remark with a querulous accent; she appeared to be in the best humor with everything.
Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.
“The only thing I don’t like,” she proceeded, “is the society.”
A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.
He had never yet heard a young girl express herself in just this fashion; never, at least, save in cases where to say such things seemed a kind of demonstrative evidence of a certain laxity of deportment.
Moral looseness; lack of rigorousness or strictness.
He had never yet heard a young girl express herself in just this fashion; never, at least, save in cases where to say such things seemed a kind of demonstrative evidence of a certain laxity of deportment.
Conduct; public behavior.
Or was she also a designing, an audacious, an unscrupulous young person?
Without scruples; immoral.
Never, indeed, since he had grown old enough to appreciate things, had he encountered a young American girl of so pronounced a type as this.
Very noticeable or certain.
She suffers dreadfully from dyspepsia.
Indigestion.
“Eugenio’s our courier. He doesn’t like to stay with Randolph; he’s the most fastidious man I ever saw.
Excessively particular, demanding, or fussy about details, especially about tidiness and cleanliness.
Winterbourne imagined for a moment that this was the manner in which the child had been taught to intimate that Mr. Miller had been removed to the sphere of celestial reward.
To suggest or disclose (something) discreetly.
He had imbibed at Geneva the idea that one must always be attentive to one’s aunt.
To take in; absorb.
Mrs. Costello had not seen him for many years, and she was greatly pleased with him, manifesting her approbation by initiating him into many of the secrets of that social sway which, as she gave him to understand, she exerted in the American capital.
The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval, sanction, commendation or official recognition.
Mrs. Costello had not seen him for many years, and she was greatly pleased with him, manifesting her approbation by initiating him into many of the secrets of that social sway which, as she gave him to understand, she exerted in the American capital.
To confer membership on; especially, to admit to a secret order with mysterious rites or ceremonies.
And her picture of the minutely hierarchical constitution of the society of that city, which she presented to him in many different lights, was, to Winterbourne’s imagination, almost oppressively striking.
With attention to tiny details.
Winterbourne continued to curl his mustache meditatively.
Thoughtfully; pensively.
He found her that evening in the garden, wandering about in the warm starlight like an indolent sylph, and swinging to and fro the largest fan he had ever beheld.
Habitually lazy, procrastinating, or resistant to physical labor.
He found her that evening in the garden, wandering about in the warm starlight like an indolent sylph, and swinging to and fro the largest fan he had ever beheld.
The elemental being of air, usually female.
(by extension) A slender woman or girl, usually graceful and sometimes with the implication of sublime station over everyday people.
But before he had time to commit himself to this perilous mixture of gallantry and impiety, the young lady, resuming her walk, gave an exclamation in quite another tone.
Chivalrous courtliness, especially towards women.
“Oh, it’s a fearful old thing!” the young girl replied serenely.
Shockingly bad.
“Oh, it’s a fearful old thing!” the young girl replied serenely.
Calmly, peacefully.
Her mother was a small, spare, light person, with a wandering eye, a very exiguous nose, and a large forehead, decorated with a certain amount of thin, much frizzled hair.
Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
Her mother was a small, spare, light person, with a wandering eye, a very exiguous nose, and a large forehead, decorated with a certain amount of thin, much frizzled hair.
Scanty; meager.
“Well, he is tiresome, Mother,” said Daisy, quite without the asperity of a retort.
The quality of being harsh or severe in the way one speaks or behaves toward people.
Winterbourne took for granted that she deeply disapproved of the projected excursion; but he said to himself that she was a simple, easily managed person, and that a few deferential protestations would take the edge from her displeasure.
Respectful and considerate; showing deference.
“Well, if Daisy feels up to it—” said Mrs. Miller, in a tone impregnated with a sense of the magnitude of the enterprise.
Saturated or infused.
“Well, if Daisy feels up to it—” said Mrs. Miller, in a tone impregnated with a sense of the magnitude of the enterprise.
An undertaking, venture, or project, especially a daring and courageous one.
Daisy’s mother looked at him, an instant, askance, and then walked forward in silence.
(Of a look or glance) With disapproval, skepticism, or suspicion.
Winterbourne observed to himself that this was a very different type of maternity from that of the vigilant matrons who massed themselves in the forefront of social intercourse in the dark old city at the other end of the lake.
Watchful, especially for danger or disorder; alert; wary.
But his meditations were interrupted by hearing his name very distinctly pronounced by Mrs. Miller’s unprotected daughter.
Contemplative discourse, often on a religious or philosophical subject.
“I beg you, madam, to let her go,” said Winterbourne ardently; for he had never yet enjoyed the sensation of guiding through the summer starlight a skiff freighted with a fresh and beautiful young girl.
Passionately, full of spirit, or enthusiastically.
“I beg you, madam, to let her go,” said Winterbourne ardently; for he had never yet enjoyed the sensation of guiding through the summer starlight a skiff freighted with a fresh and
beautiful young girl.
Loaded, carrying.
“I will row you over to Chillon in the starlight.”
“I don’t believe it!” said Daisy.
“Well!” ejaculated the elder lady again.
Past tense of “to ejaculate: to say abruptly
“I was bound I would make you say something,” Daisy went on.
Ready, prepared.
“You see, it’s not very difficult,” said Winterbourne. “But I am afraid you are chaffing me.”
To make fun of or to tease; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language; to quiz.
“I should think you had better find out what time it is,” interposed her mother.
Past tense of “to interpose”: to interrupt a conversation by introducing a different subject or making a comment.
“It is eleven o’clock, madam,” said a voice, with a foreign accent, out of the neighboring darkness; and Winterbourne, turning, perceived the florid personage who was in attendance upon the two ladies.
Elaborately ornate; flowery.
“Well, I hope it won’t keep you awake!” she said very smartly; and, under the escort of the privileged Eugenio, the two ladies passed toward the house.
Quickly, intelligently.
Winterbourne was a man of imagination and, as our ancestors used to say, sensibility; as he looked at her dress and, on the great staircase, her little rapid, confiding step, he felt as if there were something romantic going forward.
Having or showing confidence or trust in another person.
It was the most charming garrulity he had ever heard. he had assented to the idea that she was “common”; but was she so, after all, or was he simply getting used to her commonness?
The state or characteristic of being excessively or tiresomely talkative.
They had the good fortune to have been able to walk about without other companionship than that of the custodian; and Winterbourne arranged with this functionary that they should not be hurried—that they should linger and pause wherever they chose.
A civil servant
A person employed as an official in a bureaucracy (usually corporate or governmental) who holds limited authority and primarily serves to carry out a simple function for which discretion is not required.
