Vocabulary Pushcart war
Firm
A group of professionals in a business together (Professor Lyman Cumberly is making a list of all the trucking firms in New York City p. 30)
Excerpt
A part quoted from a longer written or spoken work (a part of Joey Kafflis's diary is shared from a secret meeting in of truckers p. 40)
Cross
Angry
Density
Degree of concentration (the size and quantity of trucks on the street is a high density of trucks p. 36)
Reliable
Dependable
Contaminated
Dirty
Object
Disagree with
Imitation
False, fake
Complicated
Having many parts
Conceal
Hide
Budge
Move a little
Imperative
Necessary, required
Amnesty
Pardon
Strategy
Plan of action in a war or game
Optimism
Positive attitude
Assured
Secure
Grave
Serious
Tack
Short, sharp, pointed nail with a flat head
Deft
Skillful
Massacre
The brutal killing of many people or animals (The book opens with the Daffodil Massacre, when Morris the Florist's cart filled with daffodils overturns p.16).
Panel
a group of people chosen for projects or discussion of issues (the television station called in a panel of traffic experts plus Wenda Gambling to explain why the traffic had stopped entirely
Peddler
a person who moves from place to place selling goods (the pushcart peddlers in the book move from place-to-place selling various things p. 24)
Confinement
being in prison.
Confidence
belief in one's own abilities; self-esteem (taxi drivers in NYC lost their confidence because of trucks p. 32)
Convictions
beliefs
Barricaded
blocked
Offend
cause someone to feel upset or annoyed
Adjoining
connected or joined to something (Professor Cumberly fell into conversation with a man who was trapped in a taxi next to him - an adjoining taxi p. 34)
Jubilant
happy
Preserved
kept free from harm (Marvin Seeley;s photo was preserved at the city Museum so that it wouldn't be damaged p. 20)
Mammoth
large, extinct, hairy elephant (Mm=ammoth is a well-known trucking firm p. 18).
Document
legal or official paper (the museum preserves the photo because it's an important historical document p. 20)
Major
main; most important (the most important campaigns of the secret meeting gave truckers a major advantage at the beginning p. 47)
Provoking
making someone angry (Morris the Florist is peaceful, so people would have a hard time believing he could provoke a war p. 22)
Innocent
not guilty of a crime (Wenda Gambling's remark was innocent; it was not intended to begin a war p. 37)
Cascaded
poured
penalty
punishment
Brisk
quick
Resistance
refusal to do something; disagreement with that causes someone to disobey or break the rules.
Retort
reply in a sharp way
HAste
rush
Communicate
share information
Token
small price
Menace
something or someone that is dangerous (there is a column in the newspaper that says that pushcarts are a menace to people who want the streets clean and safe p. 48)
Hardship
something that makes life difficult or unpleasant, esp. a lack of money or the condition of having a difficult life. (it would be difficult for Joey Kafflis to keep his mouth shut against Big Moe because he always has a lot today p. 43)
Offensive
something that offends someone
Repeal
take away
Insert
to add
Predict
to say what will happen in the future ("As the trucks increased in size, traffic grew steadily worse just as Archie Love had predicted p. 34)