East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

Question 1

inimical

Answer 1

• adjective*
  1. tending to obstruct or harm: actions inimical to our interests.
  2. unfriendly; hostile: an inimical alien power.

Question 2

stultify

Answer 2

• verb*
  1. (usu. as adj. stultifying) cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, esp. as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine: the mentally stultifying effects of a disadvantaged home.

2. cause (someone) to appear foolish or absurd: Counsel is not expected to stultify himself in an attempt to advance his client’s interests.

Question 3

bindlestiff

Answer 3

• noun* informal
  1. a tramp or a hobo, esp. one carrying a bundle containing a bedroll and other gear.

Question 4

interlard

Answer 4

• verb*
  1. intersperse or embellish speech or writing with different material: a compendium of advertisements and reviews, interlarded with gossip.

Question 5

tractable

Answer 5

• adjective*
  1. (of a person or animal) easy to control or influence: tractable dogs that have had some obedience training.
  2. (of a situation or problem) easy to deal with: trying to make the mathematics tractable.

Question 6

obsequious

Answer 6

• adjective*
  1. obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree: they were served by obsequious waiters.

Question 7

bleat

Answer 7

• verb*
  1. (of a sheep, goat, or calf) make a characteristic wavering cry: the lamb was bleating weakly | figurative: *handing the mike to some woman who starts bleating out rap rhymes *
  2. speak or complain in a weak, querulous, or foolish way: he bleated incoherently about the report.
• noun*
  1. the wavering cry made by a sheep, goat, or calf: the distant bleat of sheep in the field.
  2. a person’s plaintive cry: his despairing bleat touched her heart.

Question 8

concupiscent

Answer 8

• adjective*
  1. filled with sexual desire; lustful: concupiscent dreams.

Question 9

incipient

Answer 9

• adjective*
  1. in an initial stage; beginning to happen or develop: he could feel incipient anger building up | an incipient black eye.
  2. (of a person) developing into a specified type or role: we seemed more like friends than incipient lovers.

Question 10

truculent

Answer 10

• adjective*
  1. eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant: his days of truculent defiance were over.

Question 11

magnanimous

Answer 11

• adjective*
  1. very generous or forgiving, esp. toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself.