TKAM Ch. 7-8 Vocabulary Flashcards
Plaited
Made by braiding
ex. Jem procured some peachtree switches from the back yard, plaited them, and bent them into bones to be covered with dirt.
Aberrations
Differences from what is normal.
ex. the seasons would change: Jem and I were burdened with the guilt of contributing to the aberrations of nature, thereby causing unhappiness to our neighbors and discomfort to ourselves
Taffeta
A fine silk or silk-like fabric
ex. By then he did not have to tell me. Just as the birds know where to go when it rains, I knew when there was trouble in our street. Soft taffeta-like sounds and muffled scurrying sounds filled me with helpless dread.
Perpetrated
Carried out or committed (normally a harmful action)
ex. “Son, I can’t tell what
you’re going to be—an engineer, a lawyer, or a portrait painter. You’ve perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard. We’ve got to disguise
this fellow.”
Feeble
Fragile; lacking strength
ex. Calpurnia came in and said she thought it was sticking. When we ran to the back yard, it was covered with a feeble layer of soggy snow.
Procure
Obtain through care or effort
ex. Jem procured some peachtree switches from the back yard, plaited them, and bent them into bones to be covered with dirt.
Accosted
Approach or address boldly
ex. When we were on the sidewalk in front of Miss Maudie’s, Mr. Avery accosted us. He had a pink face and a big stomach below his belt. “See what you’ve done?” he said.
Erected
Constructed
ex. Atticus strolled over to Miss Maudie’s sidewalk, where they engaged in an arm-waving conversation, the only phrase of which I caught was “…erected an absolute morphodite in that yard! Atticus, you’ll never raise ‘em!”
Unfathomable
Incapable of being fully understood
ex. For reasons unfathomable to the most experienced prophets in Maycomb County, autumn turned to winter that year.
Tousled
Untidy or messy
ex. Atticus was holding out my bathrobe and coat. “Put your robe on first,” he said.Jem was standing beside Atticus, groggy and tousled. He was
holding his overcoat closed at the neck, his other hand was jammed into his pocket.
Direst
Extremely serious or urgent
ex. The snow stopped in the afternoon, the temperature dropped, and by nightfall Mr. Avery’s direst predictions came true
Caricatures
A comical representation of a person
Jem explained that if he did, the snowman would become muddy and cease to be a snowman.
“I don’t care what you do, so long as you do something,” said Atticus. “You can’t go around making caricatures of the neighbors.”
“Ain’t a characterture,” said Jem. “It looks just like him.”
Quelled
Put an end to
ex. Miss Maudie’s tin roof quelled the flames. Roaring, the house collapsed; fire gushed everywhere, followed by a flurry of blankets from
men on top of the adjacent houses
Libel
A false statement which negatively affects a person’s reputation
ex. “Son, I can’t tell what
you’re going to be—an engineer, a lawyer, or a portrait painter. You’ve
perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard. We’ve got to disguise
this fellow.”
Perplexity
An inability to deal with or understand something
ex. She must have seen my perplexity. She said, “Only thing I worried about last night was all the danger and commotion it caused. This whole neighborhood could have gone up.
