Tale of Two Cities Vocab
Terms
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- epoch
- era, period "...It was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light..." (3)
- incredulity
- inability/unwillingness to believe "It was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light..." (3)
- superlative
- of the highest kind; supreme "In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." (3)
- potentate
- a person with great power "...That magnificent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, was made o stand on Turnham Green, by one highwayman." (5)
- retinue
- a procession/crew attending on a single person "The Lord Mayor of London, was made to stand and deliver by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue." (5)
- blunderbuss
- a short firearm "Prisoners in London gaols fought battles with their turnkeys, and the majesty of the law fired blunderbusses in among them, loaded with rounds of shot and ball." (5)
- requisition
- the act of requiring or demanding "The hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals..." (5)
- mire
- mud/ slush "He walked uphill in the mire by the side of the mail...because the hill, and the harness, and the mud, and the mail were all so heavy..." (6)
- mutinous
- rebellious, of revolt "The [load] was all so heavy, that the horses had three times already come to a stop, besides once drawing the coach across the road, with the mutinous intent of taking it back to Blackheath." (7)
- endued
- endowed, assumed "Reins and whip and coachman and guard, however, in combination, had read that article...that some brute animals are endued with Reason; and the team had capitulated and returned to their duty." (7)
- capitulate
- to surrender "[Speaking of horses going uphill]: ...And the team had capitulated and returned to their duty." (7)
- nondescript
- not particularly notable, interesting "ranging from the landlord to the lowest stable nondescript..." (8)
- genial
- warm and cheerful "The Dover mail was in its usual genial position that they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure of nothing but the horses..." (8)
- hardihood
- boldness, courage, vigor "If any one of the three had had the hardihood to propose to another to walk on a little ahead into the mist and darkness, he would have put himself in a fair way of getting shot instantly." (9)
- adjuration
- earnest request, urging "With this hurried adjuration, he stood on the offensive." (9)
- soliloquy
- monologue "I hope there is not, but cannot make so sure of that," said the guard, in gruff soliloquy. (11)
- eddying
- pooling "The figures of a horse and rider came slowly through the eddying mist..." (11)
- expeditiously
- quick "His fellow-passengers, who had expeditiously secreted their watches and purses in their boots, and were now making a general pretense of being asleep." (12)
- inexorable
- unyielding, unalterable "My friend is dead, my neighbor is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret..." (14)
- evince
- to show clearly, manifest "The messenger rode back at an easy trot, stopping pretty often at ale-houses by the way to drink, but evincing a tendency to keep his own counsel..." (14)
- muffler
- a scarf around the mouth "They had a sinister expression, under an old cocked-hat like a three-cornered spittoon, and over a great muffler for the chin and throat." (15)
- drawer
- doorman "...The head drawer at the Royal George Hotel opened the coach-door as his custom was." (19)
- packet
- ferry "[While in London] There will be a packet to Calais, to-morrow, drawer?" (19)
- sonorous
- loud, resonant "...And a loud watch ticking a sonorous sermon under his flapped waistcoat." (20)
- immemorial
- extending beyond memory "The waiter...stood surveying the guest while he ate and drank...according to the immemorial usage of waiters in all ages." (22)
- claret
- red wine "A bottle of good claret after dinner does a digger in the red coals no harm, otherwise than it has a tendency to throw him out of work." (23)
- ward
- a person in control "No; you have been the ward of Tellsons House since, and I have been busy with other business of Tellsons House since." (28)
- pecuniary
- relating to money "Feelings! I have no time for them, no chance of them. I pass my whole life, miss, in turning an immense pecuniary Mangle." (28)
- consignment
- entrusting, committing "...The privilege of filling up blank forms of the consignment of any one to the oblivion of a prison for any length of time." (29)
- gradation
- a stage of change, passing between degrees "The strong woman...recovered her charge by a regular series of gradations." (33)
- vestige
- mark, trace, or visible evidence "Samples of a people that had undergone a terrible grinding and regrinding in the mill...fluttered in every vestige of a garment the wind shook." (36)
- modicum
- moderate or small amount "Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood that the man sawed off..." (36)
- offal
- inedible butchered parts; carrion "Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had no offal, among its refuse, or anything to eat." (36)
- atomies
- motes, atoms "Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil." (36)
- expostulation
- remonstrance, earnest protest Is there-tell me thou- is there no other place to write such words in?" In his expostulation he dropped his cleaner hand upon the jokers heart. (38)
- engendered
- come into existence, originated "The uncontrollable and hopeless mass of decomposition so engendered, would have polluted the air..." (43)
- garret
- topmost, attic "There was yet an upper staircase, of a steeper inclination and of contracted dimensions, to be ascended, before the garret story was reached." (43)
- provender
- provisions or feed for domestic animals Bread and meat, wind and hot coffee...Monsieur DeFarge put his provender, and the lamp he carried, on the shoemakers bench." (58)
- postilion
- left carriage-driver, horseman "The postilion cracked his whip, and they clattered away under the feeble over-swinging lamps." (60)
- eminence
- high station, rank, repute "They were even boastful of its eminence in those particulars, and were fired by an express conviction that, if it were less objectionable, it would be less respectable." (63)
- obstinacy
- stubbornness, persistence "After bursting open a door of idiotic obstinacy with a weak rattle in its throat, you fell into Tellsons down two steps, and came to your senses in a miserable little shop..." (64)
- extemporize
- to do or manage in a makeshift, improvised way "Your deeds got into extemporized strong-rooms, made of kitchens and sculleries, and fretted all the fat out of their parchments into the banking-house air." (64)
- scullery
- food-cleaning part of pantry "Your deeds got into extemporized strong-rooms, made of kitchens and sculleries, and fretted all the fat out of their parchments into the banking-house air." (64)
- purloiner
- thief "...The purloiner of forty shillings and sixpence was put to Death..." (65)
- gamut
- the entire range or scale "The sounders of three-fourths of the notes in the whole gamut of Crime, were put to Death." (65)
- gaiter
- cover for shoe (horse-riding) "...Spectacularly poring over large books, and casting his breeches and gaiters into the general weight of the establishment." (65)
- counterpane
- bedspread "Mr. Cruncher reposed under a patchwork counterpane, like a Harlequin at home." (66)
- deprecate
- to depreciate, to express disapproval of "Master Cruncher took this very ill, and, turning to his mother, strongly deprecated any praying away of his personal board." (67)
- laudanum
- a trace of opium "I am as sleepy as laudanum, my lines is strained to that degree that I should not know..." (68)
- convivial
- agreeable, friendly, festive "Exceedingly red-eyed and grim, as if he had been up all night at a party which had taken anything but a convivial turn..." (69)
- foray
- venture, quick attack, raid "With Young Jerry standing by him, when not engaged in making forays through the Bar." (70)
- reversionary
- of a reversal "Having thus given his parent God speed, young Jerry entered on his reversionary interest in the straw his father had been chewing, and cogitated." (70)
- cogitate
- to ponder, meditate "Having thus given his parent God speed, young Jerry seated himself on a stool, entered on his reversionary interest in the straw his father had been chewing, and cogitated." (70)
- superscribe
- to write/inscribe/mark on or above something "As the ancient clerk deliberately folded and superscribed the note, Mr. Cruncher, after surveying him in silence until he came to the blotting-paper stage..." (72)
- spile
- to stop up, to use with a spigot "It is hard in the law to spile a man, I think. It is hard enough to kill him, but it is wery hard to spile him, sir." (72)
- pillory
- the stocks "The gaol...was famous, too, for its pillory, a wise old institution, that inflicted a punishment of which no one could foresee the extent." (73)
- mercenary
- working or acting only for money "Also, for extensive transactions in blood-money, another fragment of ancestral wisdom, systematically leading to the most frightful mercenary crimes that could be committed under Heaven." (73)
- aphorism
- a terse saying of general truth "Altogether, the Old Bailey, at that date, was a choice illustration of the precept that "Whatever it is, is right"; an aphorism that would be as final as it is lazy." (73)
- demur
- hesitation, objection "After some delay and demur, the door grudgingly turned on its hinges a very little way..." (74)
- whet
- appetizer or drink "Aiming at the prisoner the beery breath of a whet he had taken as he came along..." (75)
- asunder
- seperated, into pieces "The form to be doomed to be so shamefully mangled, was the sight; the immortal creature that was to be so butchered and torn asunder, yielded the sensation." (76)
- circuitously
- roundabout, indirectly "This much, Jerry, with his head becoming more and more spiky as the law terms bristled it, made out with huge satisfaction, and so arrived circuitously at the understanding..." (77)
- ferret
- to drive out, smoke out "Providence, however, had put it into the heart of a person who was beyond fear and beyond reproach, to ferret out the nature of the prisoners schemes." (79)
- immolate
- offer in sacrifice "That, he had been the prisoners friend, but, at once in an auspicious and evil hour detecting his infamy, had resolved to immolate the traitor he could no longer cherish in his bosom." (80)
- unimpeachable
- impossible to doubt "That, the lofty example of this immaculate and unimpeachable witness for the crown..." (80)
- secrete
- to release or discharge "...Had engendered in him a holy determination to examine his masters table-drawers and pockets, and secrete his papers." (80)
- disparagement
- depreciation, belittlement, bringing of reproach "That, he was prepared to hear some disparagement attempted of this admirable servant..." (80)
- pernicious
- causing ruin, harm "The proof would go back five years, and would show the prisoner already engaged in these pernicious missions..." (81)
- asseveration
- an emphatic assertion "That head Mr. Attorney-General concluded by demanding of them, in the name of everything he could think of with a round turn in it, and on the faith of his solemn asseveration that he already considered the prisoner as good as dead and gone." (81)
- maligned
- slandered "He had never been suspected of stealing a silver teapot; he had been maligned respecting a mustard-pot, but it turned out only to be a plated one." (83)
- alight
- to dismount, descend "Did they alight on the road in the course of the night?" "They did." (84)
- timorous
- timid "Except that I remember them both to have been- like myself- timorous of highwaymen, and the prisoner has not a timorous air." (84)
- heresy
- act against doctrine "The Judge looked up from his notes to glare at that tremendous heresy about George Washington." (88)
- faculties
- senses, capabilities "She had become familiar to me, when a gracious God restored my faculties; but, I am unable to say how she had become familiar." (89)
- antipathy
- aversion, dislike "How it would be a weakness in the government to break down this attempt to practise for popularity on the lowest national antipathies and fears..." (92)
- foreman
- one in charge "As he passed out, the jury, who had turned back and paused a moment, spoke through their foreman." (93)
- carrion
- rotting flesh "The crowd came pouring out with a vehemence that nearly took him off his legs, and a loud buzz swept into the street as if the baffled blue-flied were dispersing in search of other carrion." (96)
- laconic
- using few words "That is a fair young lady to hand to a coach in the dark, Mr. Darnay!" Carton said, filling his new goblet. A slight frown and a laconic, "Yes," were the answer. (102)
- propensity
- inclination or tendency "The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian [of drunken revelry] propensities." (104)
- glib
- fluent, unconstrained "It had once been noted at the Bar, that while Mr. Stryver was a glib man, and an unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold..." (105)
- hob
- shelf by fireplace "A kettle steamed upon the hob..." (106)
- repast
- meal "At length the jackal had got together a compact repast for the lion, and proceeded to offer it to him." (108)
- despondency
- dejection, depression of spirits "Up one minute and down the next; now in spirits and now in despondency!" (109)
- purport
- to claim, to present (often falsely) the appearance of being "The Doctor occupied two floors of a large still house, where several callings purported to be pursued by day, but whereof little was audible any day." (113)
- imputation
- accusation "Not that I have any fault to find with Doctor Manette, except that he is not worthy of such a daughter, which is no imputation on him, for it was not to be expected that anybody should be." (117)
- compunction
- uneasiness, hesitation about rightness "Solomon was a heartless scoundrel who had stripped her of everything she possessed, as a stake to speculate with, and had abandoned her in her poverty for evermore, with no touch of compunction." (118)
- contrivance
- something contrived; a plan or scheme "Miss Pross took charge of the lower regions, and always acquitted herself marvelously. Her dinners, of a very modest quality, were so well cooked and so well served, and so neat in their contrivances, half English and half French, that nothing could be better." (122)
- acquitted
- to bear or conduct oneself "Miss Pross took charge of the lower regions, and always acquitted herself marvelously. Her dinners, of a very modest quality, were so well cooked and so well served, and so neat in their contrivances, half English and half French, that nothing could be better." (122)
- stipulation
- a condition, demand, or promise in an agreement "I take them into mine!" said Carton. "I ask no questions and make no stipulations. There is a great crowd bearing down upon us..." (126)
- escutcheon
- coat of arms, shield "Deep would have been the blot upon his escutcheon if his chocolate had been ignobly waited on by only three men; he must have died of two." (128)
- prostrate
- to bow "Which Farmer-General, carrying an appropriate can with a golden apple on top of it, much prostrated before by mankind..." (129)
- cataleptic
- like schizophrenic "Half of the half-dozen had become members of a fantastic sect of Convulsionists, and were even then considering within themselves whether they should foam, rage, roar, and turn cataleptic on the spot." (131)
- deigning
- stooping "Without deigning to look at the assemblage a second time, Monsieur the Marquis leaned back in his seat..." (137)
- brigand
- bandit "If I knew which rascal threw at the carriage, and if that brigand were sufficiently near it, he should be crushed under the wheels." (127)
- drag
- a metal shoe for carriages, brake for hills "When the heavy drag had been adjusted to the wheel, and the carriage slid down the hill, with a cinderous smell, in a cloud of dust, the red glow departed quickly." (139)
- propitiate
- to make favorably inclined, appease "Monsier the Marquis cast his eyes over the submissive faces that drooped before him, as the like of himself had drooped before Monseigneur of the Court- only the difference was, that these faces drooped merely to suffer and not to propitiate." (140)
- clemency
- quality of disposition to be forgiving, merciful "Your clemency, Monseigneur! He was not of this part of the country." (141)
- obsequiousness
- servilely compliant, obedient "Monsieur Gabelle was the Postmaster, and some other tax functionary united; he had come out with great obsequiousness to assist at this examination." (142)
- gossamer
- thin and light "The postilions, with a thousand gossamer gnats circling about them in lieu of the Furies..." (143)
- remonstrance
- protest, to plead in objection "Monsieur the Marquis went from his carriage, sufficiently disturbing the darkness to elicit loud remonstrance from an owl." (146)
- poniard
- to be stabbed with a slender dagger "From this room, many such dogs have been taken out to be hanged; in the next room (my bed-room), one fellow, to our knowledge, was poniarded on the spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter. (150)
- portend
- to indicate, mean, signify "What did all this portend, and what portended the swift hoisting up of Monsieur Gabelle behind a servant on horseback..." (159)
- conversant
- familiar by study of "More months, to the number of twelve, had come and gone, and Mr. Charles Darnay was established in England as a higher teacher of the French language who was conversant with French literature." (160)
- constancy
- being unchanging, uniform
- forborne
- restrain, withhold "Dear Doctor Manette, always knowing this, always seeing her and you with this hallowed light about you, I have forborne, and forborne, as long as it was in the nature of man to do it." (165)
- patronage
- a patronizing manner "The prosperous patronage with which he said it, made him look twice as big as he was..."(174)
- functionary
- a person who functions in a specified capacity; especially a government official "Monsieur Gabelle was the Postmaster, and some other tax functionary united; he had come out with great obsequiousness to assist at this examination." (142)