TKAM Ch. 5-6 Vocabulary

Question 1

Benign

Answer 1

Gentle and kindly

ex. Until Jem and Dill excluded me from their plans, she was only another lady in the neighborhood, but a relatively benign presence.

Question 2

Tacit

Answer 2

Understood or implied without being stated

ex. Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernongs if we didn’t jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot

Question 3

Scuppemongs

Answer 3

Grapes

ex. Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernongs if we didn’t jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot

Question 4

Magisterial

Answer 4

Having or showing great authority.

ex. She was a widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and men’s coveralls, but after her five o’clock bath she
would appear on the porch and reign over the street in magisterial beauty

Question 5

Pestilence

Answer 5

A fatal epidemic disease

ex. “Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard. Look here. When it comes fall this dries up and the wind blows it all over Maycomb County!” Miss Maudie’s face likened such an occurrence unto an Old Testament pestilence.

Question 6

Cordiality

Answer 6

Affection and Kindness

ex. When Walter caught up with us, Jem made pleasant conversation with him. “A hain’t lives there,” he said cordially, pointing to the
Radley house. “Ever hear about him, Walter?”

Question 7

Benevolence

Answer 7

The quality of being well meaning; kindness

ex. Miss Maudie’s benevolence extended to Jem and Dill, whenever they paused in their pursuits: we reaped the benefits of a talent Miss Maudie had hitherto kept hidden from us.

Question 8

Hiterto

Answer 8

Until now

ex. Miss Maudie’s benevolence extended to Jem and Dill, whenever they paused in their pursuits: we reaped the benefits of a talent Miss Maudie had hitherto kept hidden from us.

Question 9

Morbid

Answer 9

Characterized by disturbing and abnormal health; unhealthiness

ex. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events

Question 10

Primitive

Answer 10

Basic/early stage

ex. Apparently deciding that it was easier to define primitive baptistry than closed communion, Miss Maudie said: “Foot-washers believe anything that’s pleasure is a sin. Did you know some of ‘em came out of the woods one Saturday and passed by this place and told me me and my flowers were going to hell?

Question 11

Pulpit

Answer 11

Raised platform in church

Question 12

Slewing

Answer 12

Heated atmosphere

Question 13

Peril

Answer 13

Serious, immediate danger

ex. how so reasonable a creature could
live in peril of everlasting torment was incomprehensible.

Question 14

Hankering

Answer 14

Desire to do something

ex. “It doesn’t make sense to me. Looks like if Mr. Arthur was hankerin’ after heaven he’d come out on the porch at least. Atticus says God’s loving folks like you love yourself - .

Question 15

Raveling

Answer 15

Move in a predictable way

ex. “Gracious child, I was raveling a thread, wasn’t even thinking about your father, but now that I am I’ll say this: Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets. How’d you like some fresh poundcake to take home?”

Question 16

Placidly

Answer 16

Without emotion

ex. “You act like you grew ten inches in the night! All right, what is it?” Jem said placidly, “We are going to give a note to Boo Radley.”

Question 17

Asinine

Answer 17

Stupid/foolish

ex. Lastly, we were to stay away from that house until we were invited there, we were not to play an asinine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street or in this town-

Question 18

Reeled

Answer 18

Lurch violently

ex. Shoulder up, I reeled around to face Boo Radley and his bloody fangs; instead, I saw Dill ringing the bell with all his might in Atticus’s
face.

Question 19

Edification

Answer 19

For others to see and judge

ex. “Makin’ fun of him?”
“No,” said Atticus, “putting his life’s history on display for the edification of the neighborhood.”

Question 20

Gaped

Answer 20

Open mouth

ex. Atticus grinned dryly. “You just told me,” he said. “You stop this nonsense right now, every one of you.” Jem gaped at him

Question 21

Prowess

Answer 21

Skill or expertise

ex. Jem said Mr. Avery
misfigured, Dill said he must drink a gallon a day, and the ensuing contest to determine relative distances and respective prowess only made me feel left out again, as I was untalented in this area

Question 22

Beckoning

Answer 22

Encourage to come

ex. With this thought in mind, I made perhaps one step per minute. I moved faster when I saw Jem far ahead beckoning in the moonlight.

Question 23

Obliged

Answer 23

Bound to action

ex. That we would be obliged to dodge the unseen from all directions was confirmed when Dill ahead of us spelled G-o-d in a whisper.

Question 24

Malignant

Answer 24

Hostile (in an evil manner)

“every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo
Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wire to pieces; the chinaberry trees were malignant, hovering, alive.”

Question 25

Desolate

Answer 25

Empty; especially of people

ex. The night-crawlers had retired, but ripe chinaberries drummed on the roof when the wind stirred, and the darkness was desolate with the
barking of distant dogs

Question 26

Quibbling

Answer 26

Arguing.

ex. Jem decided there was no point in quibbling, and was silent. When Atticus went inside the house to retrieve a file he had forgotten to take
to work that morning, Jem finally realized that he had been done in by the oldest lawyer’s trick on record.

Question 27

Ramshackle

Answer 27

in a severe state of disrepair.

ex. The back of the Radley house was less inviting than the front: a ramshackle porch ran the width of the house

Question 28

Cherub

Answer 28

A beautiful, innocent-looking child.

ex. In the glare from the streetlight, I could see Dill hatching one: his eyes widened, his fat cherub face grew rounder.

Question 29

Lattice

Answer 29

An interlaced structure or pattern resembling a lattice (a structure consisting of strips of wood or metal crossed and fastened together with square or diamond-shaped spaces left between).

ex. It must have been two o’clock. The moon was setting and the lattice-work shadows were fading into fuzzy nothingness. Jem’s white shirt-tail dipped and bobbed like a small ghost dancing
away to escape the coming morning.

Question 30

Nocturnal

Answer 30

Done, occurring, or active at night

ex. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events

Question 31

Mutilated

Answer 31

inflict a violent and disfiguring injury on.

ex. people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy

Question 32

Culprit

Answer 32

A person who is responsible for a crime or other misdeed

ex. people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy

Question 33

Torment

Answer 33

severe physical or mental suffering.

ex. how so reasonable a creature could
live in peril of everlasting torment was incomprehensible.