Glass Castle Vocab

ingenuity

Quality of being original creative and inventive

vying

competing eagerly to achieve something

ornate

complex patterns and designs or using unusual words

pithy

concise and forcefully expressed in language

addled

confusion/ can't think clearly

relegated

consign or dismiss to an inferior rank or position.

raucous

disturbingly loud harsh noise

wheedle

flatter someone into getting what you want (wheedle your way into the movie)

Fretted

fret on guitar

calcified

harden by calcium (this dead bird is calcified by the salt and calcium in the air around this lake)

tentative

hesitant unsure

cathouse

house were men see prostitutes

cantankerous

incorporated and argumentative someone hard to work with

precariously

is defined as something done in an uncertain manner

benighted

it's like being called naive --lacking knowledge and potential typically owing to a lack of opportunity

feeble

lacking physical strength especially due to age or illness

hacienda

large estate or region referred to in Spanish houses

Simony

making profit from sacred or ecclesiastical things

cojones

mans testicle

corrugated

shaped into alternate ridges/grooves

paralytic

someone being paralyzed

Okie

someone from Oklahoma

ruddy

someone having a healthy red face

malicious

someone intending to do harm

flapper

1920 fashionable lady who flouts herself With conventional behavior

wino

Alcoholic who drinks a lot of cheap wine / booze typically homeless

hollyhocks

a European plant w big flowers

embankment

a bank of stone or earth built to carry a railroad over low ground

partridges

a bird

geode

a cavity in a rock filled w crystals

shylocked

a character in Shakespeare

magistrate

a civil officer or lay judge who administers the law, especially one who conducts a court that deals with minor offenses and holds preliminary hearings for more serious ones.

stucco

a coat of plaster for decoration

tufts

a collection of something

ploy

a cunning plan to mess with someone

exasperation

a feeling of intense irritation

hunch

a guess based off a feeling not facts

Adobe house

a kind of clay used as a building material, typically in the form of sun-dried bricks.

mantillas

a lace or silk scarf worn over head / shoulders typically Spanish

Conestoga wagon

a large covered wagon used for long-distance travel, typically carrying pioneers in the westward migration

flouted

a law always practiced where you mock something

nomads

a person who does not stay long in the same place

oleander bushes

a poisonous shrub/ tree

excursion

a short leisurely activity

oasis

a small spot in the desert where water is found

warmonger

a sovereign or political leader or activist who encourages or advocates aggression or warfare toward other nations or groups.

sieve

a utensil consisting of a wire or plastic mesh held in a frame - ex- what you drain your noodles w

delirium

an acutely disturbed state of mind that occurs in fever, intoxication, and other disorders and is characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence of thought and speech.

" on the wagon "

an alcoholic stopping drinking

qualms

an uneasy feeling of doubt, worry, or fear, especially about one's own conduct; a misgiving.

ingrate

an ungrateful person

evasive

avoiding self relation by responding indirectly ex-she was evasive about giving him her phone number

hoovering

vacuuming

urchin

mischievous young child dressed in tattered clothes

mediocre

moderate quality .. not very good

aardvark

nocturnal burrowing animal that eats insects

monochromatic

one color

mirage

optical allusion from atmospheric conditions

vagrant

person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging.

cajoled

persuade someone a flattery

wheedling

persuade someone to make them or say something

hedonism

pursuit of pleasure

Hoisted

raise (something) by means of ropes and pulleys.

harebrained

rash ill-judged

rustic

relating to the countryside , simple , raw

palatial

resembling a palace

tobogganing

ride a sled

looted

steal goods from (a place), typically during a war or riot

pilfering

steal something w little value

antiseptic

substance that prevents the growth of disease causing microorganisms

forlorn

super sad/lonely

gestate

time a baby's in its moms womb

Shanghai

trick someone into doing something

diminutive

unusually small