The Bell Jar Flashcards

Question

ravel | /ˈrav(ə)l/

Answer 1

// My mother turned from a foggy log into a slumbering, middle-aged woman, her mouth slightly open and a snore ravelling from her throat. ``` // Davy had finished ravelling out his herring net // a shirt with a ravelled collar ``` : untangle : confuse or complicate (a question or situation) : a tangle, cluster, or knot

Answer 2

// My mother turned from a foggy log into a slumbering, middle-aged woman, her mouth slightly open and a snore ravelling from her throat. // Sleeping Beauty slumbered in her forest castle : sleep, a sleep

Answer 3

// My mother turned from a foggy log into a slumbering, middle-aged woman, her mouth slightly open and a snore ravelling from her throat. // she tripped over a fallen log : a part of the trunk or a large branch of a tree that has fallen or been cut off

Answer 4

// I felt limb and betrayed, like the skin shed by a terrible animal. ``` // both varieties shed leaves in winter // we shed our jackets // many firms use relocation as an opportunity to shed jobs // the full moon shed a watery light on the scene ``` : (of a tree or other plant) allow (leaves or fruit) to fall to the ground : (of a reptile, insect, etc.) allow (its skin or shell) to come off, to be replaced by another one that has grown underneath : (of a mammal) lose (hair) as a result of moulting, disease, or age : take off (clothes) : discard (something undesirable, superfluous, or outdated) : cast or give off (light) : [British] accidentally allow (something) to fall off or spill : a simple roofed structure used for garden storage, to shelter animals, or as a workshop : park (a vehicle) in a depot

Answer 5

// ... having some senior introducing me to her aunt's best friend's son and finding some pale, mushroomy fellow with protruding ears or buck teeth or a bad leg. : the male of some horned animals, especially the fallow deer : a vertical jump performed by a horse

Answer 6

// ... and introduces himself as your real father and looks exactly like you, so you know he really is your father, and the person you thought all your life was father is a sham. ``` // our current free health service is a sham // he was a sham, totally unqualified for his job as a senior doctor ``` : a thing that is not what it is purported to be : pretence : a person who pretends to be someone or something they are not : falsely present something as the truth

Answer 7

// Inertia oozes like molasses through Elaine's limbs. : thick, dark brown juice obtained from raw sugar during the refining process

Answer 8

// Inertia oozes like molasses through Elaine's limbs. ``` // blood was oozing from a wound in his scalp // her mosquito bites were oozing and itching like mad // she oozes a raunchy sex appeal ``` : (of a fluid) slowly trickle or seep out of something : slowly exude or discharge a viscous fluid : give a powerful impression of (a quality) : the sluggish flow of a fluid

Answer 9

// Inertia oozes like molasses through Elaine's limbs.

Answer 10

// It occurred to me I'd been eating ravenously ever since I came to. : ravenous – extremely hungry : (of hunger or need) very great; voracious

Answer 11

// ... refusing the diversion of OT and walks and badminton matches and even the weekly movies, which I enjoyed, and which Miss Norris never went to, simply to brood over... ``` // she had brooded over the subject a thousand times // she was brought up as part of a brood of eight ``` : a family of birds or other young animals produced at one hatching or birth : [informal] a large family of children : think deeply about something that makes one unhappy, angry, or worried : (of a bird) sit on (eggs) to hatch them : (of a fish, frog, or invertebrate) hold (developing eggs) within the body : (of an animal) kept to be used for breeding

Answer 12

``` // They seemed touching, and rather spectacular, and I thought I would carry them around with me, like the relic of a dead lover, till they wore off of their own accord. // When Doreen woke up she wouldn't remember what had happened and would think she must have passed out in front of my door while I slept, and she would get up of her own accord. ``` ``` // the powers accorded to the head of state // his views accorded well with those of Merivale ``` : give or grant someone (power, status, or recognition) : (of a concept or fact) be harmonious or consistent with • of one's own accord – voluntarily or without outside intervention

Answer 13

// I readied myself, but immediately my mother and my brother each laid one hand on a door handle. ``` // the spare transformer was readied for shipment : prepare (someone or something) for an activity or purpose; prepare; make ready; equip; put together ```

Answer 14

// The pears were unripe, so they would keep well, and whenever I lifted my suitcase up or down simply carried it along, they cannoned from one end to the other with a special little thunder of their own. : a large, heavy piece of artillery, typically mounted on wheels : collide with something forcefully or at an angle

Answer 15

// Leafing blindly through a tatty National Geographic in the asylum library, I waited my turn... : (of a plant, especially a deciduous one in spring) put out new leaves : turn over (the pages of a book or the papers in a pile), reading them quickly or casually

Answer 16

// Lenny jutted a thumb at the meek little grey muzzle and stiff jackrabbit ears. : the projecting part of the face, including the nose and mouth, of an animal such as a dog or horse : a guard, typically made of straps or wire, fitted over an animal's muzzle to stop it biting or feeding : [informal] the part of a person's face including the nose, mouth, and chin : put a muzzle on (an animal) : prevent (a person or group) from expressing their opinions freely

Answer 17

// Lenny jutted a thumb at the meek little grey muzzle and stiff jackrabbit ears. // a rock jutted out from the side of the bank : cause (something) to protrude : a point that sticks out : extend out, over, or beyond the main body or line of something

Answer 18

// Lenny jutted a thumb at the meek little grey muzzle and stiff jackrabbit ears. : quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive

Answer 19

``` // Walking has never fazed me. // she was not fazed by his show of anger ``` : disturb or disconcert (someone)

Answer 20

``` // Of course, the famous woman poet at my college lived with another woman – a stumpy old Classical scholar with a cropped Dutch cut. // weak stumpy legs ``` : short and thick; squat

Answer 21

// In the dim light of the streetlamp that filtered though the drawn blinds, I could see the pin curls on her head glittering like a row of little bayonets. : шпилька для волосся

Answer 22

// But as Irvin drove me through the barren, snow-banked streets I felt the warm seepage let itself through the dam of the towel and my skirt and on to the car seat. ``` // the plains of Kyrenia were barren // the barren fig tree // the sports hall turned out to be a rather barren concrete building // your life will be barren // the room was barren of furniture ``` : too poor to produce much or any vegetation : (of a tree or plant) not producing fruit or seed : showing no results or achievements; unproductive : (of a place or building) bleak and lifeless : empty of meaning or value : devoid of : [North American] a barren tract or tracts of land

Answer 23

// But as Irvin drove me through the barren, snow-banked streets I felt the warm seepage let itself through the dam of the towel and my skirt and on to the car seat. : the slow escape of a liquid or gas through porous material or small holes

Answer 24

// But as Irvin drove me through the barren, snow-banked streets I felt the warm seepage let itself through the dam of the towel and my skirt and on to the car seat. : a barrier constructed to hold back water and raise its level; дамба : a rubber sheet used to keep saliva from the teeth during dental operations

Answer 25

// Words, dimly familiar, but twisted all awry, like faces in a funhouse mirror, fled past, leaving no impression on the glassy surface of my brain. ``` // I got the impression that something was awry // he was hatless, his silver hair awry ``` : away from the usual or expected course : out of the normal or correct position; askew

Answer 26

// Words, dimly familiar, but twisted all awry, like faces in a funhouse mirror, fled past, leaving no impression on the glassy surface of my brain. ``` // the dim glow of the fire // his eyes became dim // dim memories ``` : (of a light, colour, or illuminated object) not shining brightly or clearly : (of the eyes) unable to see clearly : not clearly recalled or formulated in the mind

Answer 27

// I couldn't see her face because her head was hanging down on her chest and her stiff blonde hair fell from its dark roots like a hula fringe. : the border or outer edges of an area or group : the unconventional, extreme, or marginal part of a group or sphere of activity : a decorative border of hanging threads left loose or formed into twists, used to edge clothing or material : decorate (clothing or material) with a fringe • hula fringe – гавайська спідничка

Answer 28

// It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs. ``` // the sultry late summer weather had brought swarms of insects // a sultry French au pair ``` : (of the air or weather) hot and humid : (of a person, especially a woman) attractive in a way that suggests a passionate nature

Answer 29

// I looked with love at the line-up of waiting trays – the white paper napkins, folded in their crisp, isosceles triangles, each under the anchor of its silver fork, the pale domes of the soft-boiled eggs... : (of a triangle) having two sides of equal length

Answer 30

// Marco reached for my hand, but I hung on to my fourth daiquiri and stayed put. : a cocktail containing rum and lime juice

Answer 31

// Against the khaki-coloured sand and the green shore wavelets, his body was bisected for a moment, like a white worm. : divide into two parts

Answer 32

// They disembowelled themselves when anything went wrong. // the dinosaur used its claw to disembowel prey : cut open and remove the internal organs of

Answer 33

// ... blind white fish ferried themselves by their own light through the great polar cold. : a boat or ship for conveying passengers and goods : convey in a ferry or other ship or boat : transport from one place to another on short or regular trips

Answer 34

// Mrs Ockended was a retired nurse who had just married her third husband and she spent an inordinate amount of time peering from behind the... : unusually large

Answer 35

// I went downstairs and picked up a pale blue envelope from the dinning-room table and scrawled on the back, in large, painstaking letters: I am going for a long walk. : done with great care

Answer 36

// I looked across the sands to the parking lot and the barred gate, and past the barred gate to the narrow road, lapped by the ocean on both sides, that led out to the one-time island. : (of a water) wash against with a gentle rippling sound

Answer 37

// He kept starring at her the way people stare at the great white macaw in the zoo, waiting for it to say something human. : a large long-tailed parrot

Answer 38

// And as she stretched out on my bed with a silly smile, I remembered a minor scandal at our college dormitory when a fat, matronly-breasted senior, homely as a grandmother and a pious Religion major... // a deeply pious woman : devoutly religious : (of a hope) sincere but unlikely to be fulfilled

Answer 39

// It was like observing a Martian, or a particularly warty toad. : a tailless amphibian : a detestable person

Answer 40

// It was like observing a Martian, or a particularly warty toad. : having warts; covered with warts wart : a small, hard, benign growth on the skin, caused by a virus

Answer 41

// There I went again, building up a glamorous picture of a man who would love me passionately the minute he met me, and all out of a few prosy nothings. : showing no imagination

Answer 42

// ... doll carriages, toy fire trucks, baseball bats, badminton nets, hamster cages and cocker spaniel puppies – the whole sprawling paraphernalia of suburban childhood. : miscellaneous articles, especially needed for a particular activity; атрибутика

Answer 43

// A second table, covered with books and papers and off-kilter clay pots – baked and pointed – squeezed itself between the bed foot and the closet door. • out of kilter – out of harmony or balance

Answer 44

// He looked so at home in that citified bar in his ranch outfit I thought he might well be somebody famous. // her wedding outfit // a first-aid outfit // an obscure 1970s country rock outfit : a set of clothes worn together, especially for a particular occasion or purpose : a complete set of equipment needed for a particular purpose : [informal] a group of people undertaking a particular activity together, especially a group of musicians, a team, or a business concern : provide with a set of clothes : provide with equipment : вбрання; обмундирування

Answer 45

// A lumpy bed, shrouded by a thin white spread, pencil-striped with blue, took up most the space. ``` // he was buried in a linen shroud // a shroud of mist // mountains shrouded by cloud ``` : a length of cloth or an enveloping garment in which a dead person is wrapped for burial : a protective casing or cover : a thing that envelops or obscures something : wrap or dress (a body) in a shroud for burial : cover or envelop so as to conceal from view

Answer 46

// She was apprenticed to the Fashion Editor, which set her apart from the more literary ones among us like Doreen and Betsy and I myself... : a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer : employ someone as an apprentice

Answer 47

// ... I could make out a smudgy skyline of gas tanks and factory stacks and derricks and bridges. : бурова вишка

Answer 48

// My German-speaking father, dead since I was nine, came from some manic-depressive hamlet in the black heart of Prussia. : a small settlement

Answer 49

// "That's only a superstition", I said then. : забобон

Answer 50

// After a minute or two I felt this burning sensation in my elbow and it occurred to me the cadaver might just be half alive since it was still warm, so I leapt off my stool with a small exclamation. : a seat without a back or arms; стілець

Answer 51

// After a minute or two I felt this burning sensation in my elbow and it occurred to me the cadaver might just be half alive since it was still warm, so I leapt off my stool with a small exclamation. : a corpse

Answer 52

// I opened it and exposed a row of little white sticks with pinks tips. : a herbaceous Eurasian plant with sweet-smelling pink or white flowers

Answer 53

// I'm supposed to be carting soup into everybody, seeing as I'm the only one on my feet, but I brought you yours first. : convey or put in a cart or similar vehicle

Answer 54

// Glancing at her – myopic, spinsterish, effaced – I wondered how she knew she had really graduated at all, and, unlike her clients, was whole and well. ``` // most myopic children can be fitted with glasses to correct their vision // the government still has a myopic attitude to public spending ``` : short-sighted : lacking intellectual insights

Answer 55

// Glancing at her – myopic, spinsterish, effaced – I wondered how she knew she had really graduated at all, and, unlike her clients, was whole and well. : of an unmarried old woman spinster : an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage

Answer 56

// Glancing at her – myopic, spinsterish, effaced – I wondered how she knew she had really graduated at all, and, unlike her clients, was whole and well. : erase from a surface : effaced - insignificant

Answer 57

// The only other address I had was the innocuous box number which people used who didn't want to advertise the fact they lived in an asylum. /əˈsʌɪləm/ : not harmful or offensive

Answer 58

// She heaved herself up, and I had a strong horsey whiff that made my nostrils prickle. : lift with great effort

Answer 59

// The air of the bell jar wadded round me and I couldn't stir. : a mass or lump of a soft material, used for padding, stuffing, or wiping : a bundle or roll of paper or banknote : [informal] a large amount of something, especially money : compress (a soft material) into a lump or mass : line or stuff with wadding

Answer 60

// ... I was apprenticed to the best editor on any intellectual fashion magazine, and what did I do but balk and balk. : hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea

Answer 61

// Lenny stopped, and Doreen went flying up on to his shoulder, and her glass sailed out of her hand in a long, wide arc and fetched up against the pine-panelling with a silly tinkle. : make or cause to make a light, clear ringing sound : [informal] urinate : [informal, British] a telephone call

Answer 62

// The parapet reached almost to my shoulders, so I dragged a folding chair from the stack against the wall, opened it, and climbed on to the precarious seat. : not securely held in position : uncertain

Answer 63

// Constantin's room had a balcony, and the balcony overlooked the river, and we could hear the hooing of the tugs down in the darkness. : fail to notice : have a view of from above

Answer 64

// Constantin's room had a balcony, and the balcony overlooked the river, and we could hear the hooing of the tugs down in the darkness. : a hard or sudden pull : a small powerful boat

Answer 65

// The nurse went on blithely opening and shutting my drawers, emptying the closet and folding my belongings into the black overnight case. : in a way that shows casual and cheerful indifference considered to be improper

Answer 66

// ... the doctor took the baby out of Will's hands and started massaging it, and the blue colour went away and the baby started to cry on a lorn, croaky voice and I could see it was a boy. : (of a person's voice) deep and hoarse

Answer 67

// The room hovered around me with great gentleness, as if the chairs and the tables and the walls were withholding their weight out of sympathy for my sudden frailty. : the condition of being weak and delicate : weakness in character or morals

Answer 68

// Sitting in the front seat, between Dodo and my mother, I felt dumb and subdued. // I felt strangely subdued as I drove home : (of a person or their manner) quiet and rather reflective or depressed : (of colour or lighting) soft and restrained subdue : overcome, quieten, or bring under control (a feeling or person) : bring (a country or people) under control by force

Answer 69

// I thought the doctors must all be in it together, and that somewhere in this hospital, in a hidden corner, there reposed a machine exactly like Doctor Gordon's, ready to jolt me out of my skin. : a state of rest, sleep, or tranquillity : be situated or kept in a particular place

Answer 70

// He was young and good-looking, and I could see right away he was conceited. : excessively proud of oneself; vain

Answer 71

// Then he said, 'Pretend you are drowning'. : die through submersion

Answer 72

``` // I tried to lift my arm and look at my watch, but my hand was a rock at my side and wouldn't budge. // She was much too heavy for me to budge down the long hall. ``` ``` // budge up, boys, make room for your uncle // he wouldn't budge on his decision ``` : make or cause to make the slightest movement : [informal] make room for another person by moving

Answer 73

// Then one day the Fiction Editor would come in to Jay Cee personally and plop the stories down on her desk and say, 'Here's something a cut above the usual'. : a short sound as of a small, solid object dropping into water without a splash : fall or cause to fall with a plop

Answer 74

// Doctor Gordon twiddled a silver pencil. : twist, move, fiddle with something in a purposeless or nervous way

Answer 75

// I felt terrible danger of puking. : vomit

Answer 76

// 'Say, Lenny's eye lingered on me, 'Frankie vamoosed, you ought to have somebody, I'll call up one of the fellers.' : depart hurriedly

Answer 77

// 'Say, Lenny's eye lingered on me, 'Frankie vamoosed, you ought to have somebody, I'll call up one of the fellers.' : fellow

Answer 78

// I looked with love at the line-up of waiting trays – the white paper napkins, folded in their crisp, isosceles triangles, each under the anchor of its silver fork, the pale domes of the soft-boiled eggs... // the dome of St Paul's Cathedral : a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure, typically with a circular base : a thing shaped like a dome

Answer 79

// Against the khaki-coloured sand and the green shore wavelets, his body was bisected for a moment, like a white worm. : a small wave of water; a ripple

Answer 80

// ... the doctor took the baby out of Will's hands and started massaging it, and the blue colour went away and the baby started to cry on a lorn, croaky voice and I could see it was a boy. : lonely and abandoned; forlorn