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Dictionary > The Picture Of Dorian Gray > Flashcards

The Picture Of Dorian Gray Flashcards

0
Q

Lionise

A

“I had only met her once before, but she took it into her head to lionise me”

Give a lot of public attention and approval to someone.

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1
Q

Ensconce

A

“the two young men went out into the garden together, and ensconced themselves on a long bamboo seat”

Settle in a comfortable place.

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2
Q

Précis

A

“she goes in for giving a rapid précis of all her guests”

A summary of a text or speech.

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3
Q

Truculent

A

“I remember her bringing me up to a truculent and red-faced old gentleman”

Eager or quick to argue or fight.

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4
Q

Skeins

A

“ravelled skeins of glossy white silk”

A length of yarn loose coiled.

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5
Q

proletariat

A

“I don’t suppose that ten per cent. of the proletariat live correctly”

Working class people regarded collectively.

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6
Q

languorous

A

languorous eyes

Tiredness or inactivity; especially when pleasurable.

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7
Q

staccato

A

“the painter appeared at the door of the studio, and made staccato signs for them to come in”

Each sound or note sharply detached from the others.

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8
Q

panegyric

A

“Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth”

A public speech or published text I praise of someone or something.

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9
Q

Brevity

A

“his terrible warning of its brevity”

Concise or exact use of words in writing or speech.

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10
Q

hansom

A

“my hansom is outside”

A two-wheeled horse drawn cab accommodating two.

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11
Q

indolence

A

“was fully entitled by reason of his birth, his indolence, the good English of his despatches”

Laziness; avoidance of activity or exertion.

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12
Q

egad

A

“The thing was hushed up, but, egad, Kelso ate his chop alone at the club for some time afterwards”

Expressing surprise, anger or affirmation.

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13
Q

assented

A

“He is very good-looking,” assented Lord Henry”

The expression of approval or agreement.

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14
Q

travail

A

“Worlds had to be in travail, that the meanest flower might blow”

Painful or laborious effort.

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15
Q

facile

A

“He invented a facile excuse”

Superficial

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16
Q

supercilious

A

“I am told, on excellent authority, that her father keeps an American dry-goods store,” said Sir Thomas Burdon, looking supercilious.”

Behaving or looking as though one things one is superior to others

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17
Q

listless

A

“with listless fingers he turned over the pages”

Lacking energy or enthusiasm

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18
Q

aphorisms

A

“That is one of your aphorisms.”

A pithy observation which contains a general truth

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19
Q

abstruse

A

“The subject is not so abstruse as I thought”

Difficult to understand; obscure.

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20
Q

Rouge

A

“Our grandmothers painted in order to try and talk brilliantly. Rouge and esprit used to go together.”

A red powder or cream used to colour the cheeks.

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21
Q

myriads

A

“with its myriads of people”

A countless or extremely great number of people or things.

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22
Q

servility

A

“he took off his hat with an air of gorgeous servility”

An excessive willingness to please or serve others.

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23
Q

cornucopias

A

“I looked out from behind the curtain, and surveyed the house. It was a tawdry affair, all Cupids and cornucopias, like a third-rate wedding cake”

An abundant supply or good things of a specified type.

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24
Q

munificent

A

“he made me a low bow, and assured me that I was a munificent patron of art”

Characterised by or displaying great generosity.

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25
Q

querulously

A

“I don’t know how we could manage without him,” answered the elder woman, querulously.”

Complaining in a rather petulant or whining manner.

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26
Q

espial

A

“Then Wisdom altered its method and spoke of espial and discovery”

The action of watching or catching sight of someone or something.

27
Q

doggedly

A

“He followed her doggedly, as she passed through the crowd.”

Having or showing tenacity or grim persistence.

28
Q

interminable

A

“The play dragged on, and seemed interminable”

Endless or apparently so (often used hyperbolically)

29
Q

anodyne

A

“an anodyne for his pain”

Not likely to cause offence or disagreement and somewhat dull.

30
Q

epigrams

A

“You cut life to pieces with your epigrams”

A pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way.

31
Q

abject

A

“I say nothing about the social mistake, which would have been abject”

(Of something bad) experienced or present in its maximum form.

32
Q

conjugal

A

“They flaunt their conjugal felicity in one’s face”

Relating to marriage or the relationship between husband and wife.

33
Q

felicity

A

They flaunt their conjugal felicity in one’s face.

Intense happiness.
The ability to find the appropriate expression for one’s thoughts.

34
Q

emancipated

A

“We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters”

Free from legal, social or political restrictions; liberated.

35
Q

lurid

A

“you must think of that lonely death in the tawdry dressing-room simply as a strange lurid fragment from some Jacobean tragedy,”

Unpleasantly bright in colour, especially to create a harsh or unnatural effect.

36
Q

cognizance

A

“Did it merely take cognizance of what passed within the soul?”

Knowledge, awareness or notice.

37
Q

winsome

A

“her childlike look, and winsome fanciful ways”

Attractive or appealing in appearance or character.

38
Q

Reticences

A

“The painter’s absurd fits of jealousy, his wild devotion, his extravagant panegyrics, his curious reticences—he understood them all now”

Not revealing ones thoughts or feelings readily.

39
Q

Garrulous

A

“She lingered for a few moments, and was garrulous over some detail of the household”

Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.

40
Q

Censure

A

“Compared to what he saw in it of censure or rebuke, how shallow Basil’s reproaches about Sibyl Vane had been!”

Express severe disapproval.

41
Q

Florid

A

“Mr. Hubbard was a florid, red-whiskered little man”

Having a red or flushed complexion.
Elaborately or excessively intricate or complicated.

42
Q

Impecuniosity

A

“His admiration for art was considerably tempered by the inveterate impecuniosity of most of the artists who dealt with him”

Having little or no money.

43
Q

obsequious

A

“in spite of the obsequious protests of Mr. Hubbard”

Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.

44
Q

Pall

A

“Beneath its purple pall”

A coffin spread over a coffin, hearse or tomb.

45
Q

argot

A

“full of argot and of archaisms, of technical expressions”

The jargon or language of a particular class of people.

46
Q

Wan

A

“He read on by its wan light”

Pale and giving the impression of illness or exhaustion.

47
Q

Fopperies

A

“His mode of dressing, and the particular styles that from time to time he affected, had their marked influence on the young exquisites of the Mayfair balls and Pall Mall club windows, who copied him in everything that he did, and tried to reproduce the accidental charm of his graceful, though to him only half-serious, fopperies.”

A man who is concerned with his clothes or appearance in an excessive manner.

48
Q

Hedonism

A

“as Lord Henry had prophesied, a new Hedonism that was to recreate life”

The pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence.

49
Q

asceticism

A

“Of the asceticism that deadens the sense”

Severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence.

50
Q

profligacy

A

vulgar profligacy

Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in use of resources.

51
Q

sojourn

A

“for the sojourn of a night”

A temporary stay.

52
Q

antinomianism

A

“the subtle antinomianism that always seems to accompany it”

Of or relating to the view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation of following moral law.

53
Q

pallid

A

“hide the pallid macerated body that is worn by the suffering”

Pale, typically of poor health.

54
Q

debonair

A

debonair manner

Confident, stylish and charming.

55
Q

calumnies

A

“sufficient answer to the calumnies, for so they termed them, that were circulated about him”

The making of false or defamatory statements in order to damage someone’s reputation.

56
Q

saturnine

A

“The face was saturnine and swarthy”

(of a person or their manner) slow and gloomy.

57
Q

Fratricide

A

Fratricide

Killing of ones sibling.

58
Q

prate

A

“though you will prate about it so tediously”

Talk foolishly or tediously about something.

59
Q

ignoble

A

“some infamous, ignoble satire”

Not honourable in character or purpose.

60
Q

satyr

A

“This is the face of a satyr”

Lustful, drunken woodland gods.

61
Q

guffawed

A

“He guffawed at his adversaries”

A loud and boisterous laugh.

62
Q

marionettes

A

“They moved like monstrous marionettes”

A puppet worked from above by strings.

63
Q

quay

A

“in the direction of the quay.”

A platform projecting into water for loading or unloading of ships.

64
Q

Plenitude

A

“The loves and sorrows that are great are destroyed by their own plenitude.”

An abundance.

Dictionary (3 decks)

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