The Crucible Vocabulary - Act 3

Gait

Definition: a manner of walking, stepping, or running Line: "Now, having established that he will set the gait: Mr. Cheever, will you go into the court and bring the children here?" (Pg.101).

Plaintiff

Definition: a person who brings suit in a court Line: "I have the best, sir - I am thirty-three time in court in my life. And always plaintiff, too" (Pg.95).

Vestry

Definition: a room used for church meetings and classes Line: "The door opens and Giles is half carried into the vestry room by Herrick" (Pg.84).

Affidavit

Definition: a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court Line: "Then let him submit his evidence in proper affidavit" (Pg.86).

Qualm

Definition: an uneasy feeling of doubt, worry, or fear Line: "Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it" (Pg.99).

Abundant

Definition: available in great quantity; plentiful Line: "Now, Martha Corey, there is abundant evidence in our hands to show that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes, Do you deny it?" (Pg.83).

Ipso facto

Definition: by that very fact or act; as an inevitable result Line: "But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not?" (Pg.100).

Placidly

Definition: calmly or peacefully Line: "Cheever waits placidly, the sublime official, dutiful" (Pg.100).

Gulling

Definition: deceiving or deluding Line: "They're gulling you, Mister!" (Pg.117).

Slovenly

Definition: dirty and unclean Line: "Were she slovenly? Lazy? What disturbance did she cause?" (Pg.112).

Deferentially

Definition: displaying deference; respectful Line: "Very deferentially: If I may say it, sir, I know this man all my life" (Pg.93).

Wrath

Definition: fierce anger Line: "He comes down to Giles, who awaits his wrath" (Pg.85).

Unperturbed

Definition: free from emotional or mental agitation Line: Abigail, unperturbed, continuing to the "bird": "Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it's God's work I do" (Pg.115).

Immaculate

Definition: free from moral blemish or impurity; pure Line: "Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it" (Pg.99).

Probity

Definition: having strong moral principles; integrity Line: "That is precisely what I am about to consider, sir. What more may you ask of me? Unless you doubt my probity?" (Pg.100).

Callously

Definition: insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic Line: "Then you tell me that you sat in my court, callously lying, when you knew that people would hang by your evidence?" (Pg.101).

Imperceptible

Definition: not perceptible by a sense or by the mind Line: Danforth, now an almost imperceptible hardness in his voice: "Then your purpose is somewhat larger" (Pg.92).

Augur

Definition: one held to foretell events by omens Line: "Children, a very augur bit will now be turned into your souls until your honesty is proved" (Pg.102).

Manifest

Definition: readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sense of sight Line: "You say you never saw no spirits, Mary, were never threatened or afflicted by any manifest of the Devil or the Devil's agents" (Pg.106).

Effrontery

Definition: shameless boldness Line: "This is a court of law, Mister. I'll have no effrontery here!" (Pg.98).

Perjury

Definition: the crime of telling a lie in a court of law after taking an oath to tell the truth Line: "I will tell you this - you are either lying now, or you were lying in the court, and in either case you have committed perjury and you will go to jail for it" (Pg.102).

Sophistication

Definition: the quality of being sophisticated Line: "Danforth is a grave man in his sixties, of some humor and sophistication that does not, however, interfere with an exact loyalty to his position and his cause" (Pg.85).

Depositions

Definition: the taking of an oral statement of a witness under oath, before trial Line: "No, no, I accept no depositions" (Pg.88).

Befuddled

Definition: unable to think clearly, confused Line: "This is a sharp time, now, a precise time - we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world" (Pg.94).

Incredulously

Definition: unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true; skeptical Line: "He looks at her incredulously" (Pg.135).