To Kill a Mockingbird All Words - Vocabulary List : Vocabulary.com
To Kill a Mockingbird All Words
February 17, 2011 By Lyndy
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We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted
Atticus.
aromatic Old World herb having aromatic threadlike foliage and seeds used as seasoning
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
United States journalist who wrote a syndicated column of advice to the lovelorn (1870-1951)
The solicitor, a Mr. Gilmer, was not well known to us.
any of numerous small songbirds with short stout bills adapted for crushing seeds
If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch
would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t?
United States poet and critic (1899-1979)
Atticus and Mr. Heck Tate got out.
a Boy Scout or Girl Scout
“ Scout yonder’s
a widely distributed perennial sedge having small edible nutlike tubers
If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second
Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to
blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill
us all if we didn’t stand out of the way.
After a
dreary conversation in our livingroom one night about his entailment, before Mr.
Cunningham left he said, “Mr. Finch, I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to pay
you.”
a hat with a broad brim that protects the face from direct exposure to the sun
Miss Maudie’s old sunhat glistened with snow crystals.
show displeasure, as after a performance or speech
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
Long
ago, in a burst of friendliness, Aunty and Uncle Jimmy produced a son named
Henry, who left home as soon as was humanly possible, married, and produced
Francis.
tree of northern India and China having purple blossoms and small inedible yellow fruits; naturalized in the southern United States as a shade tree
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
evergreen of tropical America having pulpy fruit containing saponin which was used as soap by Native Americans
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
a short warm outer jacket
He was long-nosed, wore boots with shiny metal eye-holes, boot pants
and a lumber jacket.
annual spurge of western United States having showy white-bracted flower clusters and very poisonous milk
“Thought you could kill my Snow-on-the-Mountain, did you?
larval mite that sucks the blood of vertebrates including human beings causing intense irritation
In his lawyer’s voice, without a shade of
inflection, he said: “Your aunt has asked me to try and impress upon you and Jean
Louise that you are not from run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of
several generations’ gentle breeding—” Atticus paused, watching me locate an
elusive redbug on my leg.
the yard associated with a school
The Maycomb school
grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall
pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the
children: Radley pecans would kill you.
amber-green muscadine grape of southeastern United States
Plucking an occasional camellia,
getting a squirt of hot milk from Miss Maudie Atkinson’s cow on a summer day,
helping ourselves to someone’s scuppernongs was part of our ethical culture, but
money was different.
a denture anchored to teeth on either side of missing teeth
With a click of her tongue she thrust out her bridgework, a
gesture of cordiality that cemented our friendship.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
I maintain that the Ewells
started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before
that.
a form of address for an unmarried woman
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
utter aloud
I maintain that the Ewells
started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before
that.
poker in which a player's losses are paid by removing an article of clothing
“We were playin‘ strip poker up yonder by the fishpool,” he said.
the yard in front of a house
The remains
of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard— a “swept” yard that was never
swept— where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.
12th President of the United States; died in office
John Taylor was kind enough to give us a postponement…”
“If you shouldn’t be defendin‘ him, then why are you doin’ it?”
a figure of a person made of packed snow
When Atticus finally called us to order and bade us look at our plates instead of
out the windows, Jem asked, “How do you make a snowman?”
clothing that is intended to protect the wearer from injury
She was not fat, but solid, and she chose
protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her
waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra’s was once
an hour-glass figure.
a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
Walking south, one
of or relating to the life and times of kings Charles I or Charles II of England
Before the first morning was over, Miss Caroline Fisher, our
teacher, hauled me up to the front of the room and patted the palm of my hand
with a ruler, then made me stand in the corner until noon.
a town in eastern Mississippi
Dill was from Meridian, Mississippi, was spending the summer with his aunt,
Miss Rachel, and would be spending every summer in Maycomb from now on.
a porch for the front door
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
people in general (often used in the plural)
“ Folks call me Dill,” said Dill, struggling under the fence.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
“That’s okay, ma’am, you’ll get to know all the county folks after a while.
an elaborate practical joke in which the unsuspecting victim hunts a snipe and is typically left in the dark holding a bag and waiting for the snipe to run into it
“Called ‘em off on a snipe hunt,” was the succinct answer.
walk consisting of a paved area for pedestrians
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
a box enclosure for a witness when testifying
The witness stand was to the right of Judge Taylor, and when we got to our seats
Mr. Heck Tate was already on it.
the brush growing beneath taller trees in a wood or forest
Even Mr. Underwood was there.
a gun that propels a projectile by compressed air
He declined to let
us take our air rifles to the Landing (I had already begun to think of shooting
Francis) and said if we made one false move he’d take them away from us for
good.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
Aunt Rachel says your name’s Jeremy Atticus Finch.”
a vehicle carrying many passengers
“Come on,” whispered Jem. We streaked across the square, across the street, until
we were in the shelter of the Jitney Jungle door.
a body of citizens sworn to give a verdict in a court of law
The jury
couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells’—
are you acquainted with the Ewells?”
(ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person
Says if
a milky white translucent or opaque glass
He would probably have poured it into his milk glass had I not
asked what the sam hill he was doing.
writing implement consisting of a colored stick of composition wax used for writing and drawing
Indeed,
they were an endless Project that slowly evolved into a Unit, in which miles of
construction paper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its
well-meaning but fruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics.
a room in which a lawcourt sits
It took Atticus’s courtroom voice to drag us away from the tree.
United States neoclassical sculptor (1814-1857)
So Jem received most of his information from Miss Stephanie Crawford, a
neighborhood scold, who said she knew the whole thing.
a door that consists of a frame holding metallic or plastic netting; used to allow ventilation and to keep insects from entering a building through the open door
The Radley house had no screen doors.
a parasitic louse that infests the body of human beings
“There ain’t no need to fear a cootie, ma’am.
turn abruptly and face the other way, either physically or metaphorically
I turned around and saw most of the town people and the entire bus delegation
looking at me.
the second wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
a first-class honours degree in two subjects
Double first cousin.”
variety of kale having smooth leaves
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
the right or chance to choose
“If I had my ‘ druthers I’d take a shotgun.”
a contest in which you are eliminated if you fail to spell a word correctly
Jem showed it to
Atticus, who said it was a spelling medal, that before we were born the Maycomb
County schools had spelling contests and awarded medals to the winners.
(used colloquially) overly conceited or arrogant
Ain’t
in the area or vicinity
The place was self-sufficient:
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
(ethnic slur) offensive and derogatory name for a Black man who is abjectly servile and deferential to Whites
He played the character parts formerly
thrust upon me— the ape in Tarzan, Mr. Crabtree in The Rover Boys, Mr. Damon
in Tom Swift.
any of various large trucks that carry firemen and equipment to the site of a fire
The old fire truck, killed by the cold, was being pushed from town
by a crowd of men.
an official authorized to decide questions before a court
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
I suppose he loved honor more than his head,
for Dill wore him down easily: “You’re scared,” Dill said, the first day.
a lamp supported on a lamppost; for illuminating a street
In the glare from the streetlight, I could see Dill hatching one: his eyes widened,
his fat cherub face grew rounder.
the side that is forward or prominent
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
a clock that wakes a sleeper at some preset time
There was a marble-topped washstand by her bed; on it were a glass with a
teaspoon in it, a red ear syringe, a box of absorbent cotton, and a steel alarm clock
standing on three tiny legs.
a board in the floor
It was necessary to turn on the lights in the daytime; there was always a film of
dust on the rough floorboards.
an electric cord used to extend the length of a power cord
We parted at suppertime, and after our meal Jem and I were settling down to a
routine evening, when Atticus did something that interested us: he came into the
livingroom carrying a long electrical extension cord.
paper suitable for drawing and making cutouts
Indeed,
they were an endless Project that slowly evolved into a Unit, in which miles of
construction paper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its
well-meaning but fruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics.
cause to smell bad; fill with a bad smell
Don’t light that thing, Dill, you’ll stink up this whole end of
town.”
a person who is picnicking
With one phrase he had turned happy picknickers
into a sulky, tense, murmuring crowd, being slowly hypnotized by gavel taps
lessening in intensity until the only sound in the courtroom was a dim pink-pinkpink:
the judge might have been rapping the bench with a pencil.
the warmest season of the year
When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries
(within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house
two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south.
make a request or demand for something to somebody
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
a positional system of numeration that uses decimal digits and a base of ten
It’s the Dewey Decimal System.”
United States architect who designed the Capitol Building in Washington which served as a model for state capitols throughout the United States (1763-1844)
He read in a book where I was a Bullfinch instead of a Finch.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we
sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.
enclosed land around a house or other building
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
an agreement that is not in writing and is not signed by the parties but is a real existing contract that lacks only the formal requirement of a memorandum to render it enforceable in litigation
I thought she was going to spit in it, which was the only reason anybody in
Maycomb held out his hand: it was a time-honored method of sealing oral
contracts.
a bedroom that is kept for the use of guests
Simple enough; but
the daughters’ rooms could be reached only by one staircase, Welcome’s room
and the guestroom only by another.
and nothing more
I maintain that the Ewells
started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before
that.
any of several breeds of terrier developed to catch rats
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
any of several shrubs or small evergreen trees having solitary white or pink or reddish flowers
Plucking an occasional camellia,
getting a squirt of hot milk from Miss Maudie Atkinson’s cow on a summer day,
helping ourselves to someone’s scuppernongs was part of our ethical culture, but
money was different.
a large drum with two heads
Then the
The ladies were cool in fragile pastel prints: most of them were heavily powdered
but unrouged; the only lipstick in the room was Tangee Natural.
a pocketknife with a blade that springs open at the press of a button
Mr. Tate reached in his side pocket and withdrew a long switchblade knife.
narrate or give a detailed account of
But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people:
Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.
having the same or similar characteristics
He liked
Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they
knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood
or marriage to nearly every family in the town.
a part of an inscribed granite stela that was originally about six feet tall and was set up in 196 BC; the inscriptions in hieroglyphics and Demotic and Greek gave the first clues to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics
Mr. Avery said it was written on the Rosetta Stone that when
children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes and made war on each other,
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.
a town in western Alaska on the southern coast of the Seward Peninsula; an important center of an Alaskan gold rush at the beginning of the 20th century
“ Nome thank you ma’am,” he drawled softly.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a piece of information
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
English portrait painter and first president of the Royal Academy (1723-1792)
Dr. Reynolds parked his car in front of our house and walked to the
Radley’s every time he called.
a narrow pathway high in the air
There was a kitchen separate from the rest of the house, tacked onto it by a
wooden catwalk; in the back yard was a rusty bell on a pole, used to summon
field hands or as a distress signal; a widow’s walk was on the roof, but no widows
walked there—from it, Simon oversaw his overseer, watched the river-boats, and
gazed into the lives of surrounding landholders.
judge or regard; look upon; judge
I did not miss her, but I think Jem did.
the posterior part of a human (or animal) body
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
an obsolete term for the network of viscous material in the cell nucleus on which the chromatin granules were thought to be suspended
“ Linin‘?” she asked.
United States writer and critic of urban planning
Cecil Jacobs, who lived at the far end of our street next door to the post office,
walked a total of one mile per school day to avoid the Radley Place and old Mrs.
Henry Lafayette Dubose.
(usually plural) close-fitting trousers of heavy denim for manual work or casual wear
Jem says my name’s really Jean Louise Bullfinch, that I got swapped when I was
born and I’m really a-”
Miss Caroline apparently thought I was lying.
the nail at the end of a finger
She had bright auburn hair, pink
cheeks, and wore crimson fingernail polish.
a large pail used to receive waste water from a washbasin or chamber pot
Against the fence, in a
line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for
as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudie
deigned to permit a geranium on her premises.
moving or appearing to move away from a place, especially one that is enclosed or hidden
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
a preparation (usually made of sweetened chicle) for chewing
I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached
into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer
wrappers.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go,
nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries
of Maycomb County.
flat semisweet cookie or biscuit usually served with tea
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
a porch for the back door
The back porch was bathed in moonlight, and the shadow, crisp as toast,
moved across the porch toward Jem.
Dill saw it next.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
It was all right to shut him up, Mr.
Radley conceded, but insisted that Boo not be charged with anything: he was not
a criminal.
distant but within sight
“Scout yonder’s
a feeling of being at ease in a relationship
Atticus’s voice had lost its comfortableness; he was
speaking in his arid, detached professional voice.
the liquid in which vegetables or meat have be cooked
“You know,” he said, “I’ve seen Atticus pat his foot when there’s fiddlin‘ on the
radio, and he loves pot liquor better’n any man I ever saw—”
“Then that makes us like the Cunninghams,” I said.
during the night of the present day
Besides, they’d put me in jail
if I kept you at home—dose of magnesia for you tonight and school tomorrow.”
free from error; especially conforming to fact or truth
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
move toward, travel toward
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
a thick and heavy shoe
He shifted his feet, clad in heavy work shoes.
the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)
In Maycomb County, it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as
opposed to yearly lavations: Mr. Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight
soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt, his skin appeared to be
sensitive to the elements.
lead someone in the wrong direction
“Gertrude,” she
use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
someone who sees an event and reports what happened
The
Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to
do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the-son-of-a-bitch-had-itcoming-
to-him was a good enough defense for anybody.
a type of skin disease that causes brown spots on the skin
Old-age liver spots dotted her cheeks, and her pale eyes had
black pinpoint pupils.
any of several American evergreen oaks
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
move fast by using one's feet
If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch
would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t?
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries
(within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house
two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south.
any of numerous ornamental shrubs grown for their showy flowers of various colors
When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was
because he had breathed on them.
smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
1960
take a seat
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
in or at that place
They persisted in
pleading Not Guilty to first-degree murder, so there was nothing much Atticus
could do for his clients except be present at their departure, an occasion that was
probably the beginning of my father’s profound distaste for the practice of
criminal law.
provoke the hostility of
Of course Jem antagonized me
sometimes until I could kill him, but when it came down to it he was all I had.
to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent
I maintain that the Ewells
started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before
that.
a list of divisions and the pages on which they start
1960
a state in the southeastern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War
If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch
would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t?
a man who serves as a sailor
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
look about oneself
Now that I was compelled to think about
it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of
my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of
shoelaces.
a camp for trustworthy prisoners employed in government projects
He was at Enfield Prison Farm, seventy miles away
in Chester County.
variety of pea plant native to the Mediterranean region and North Africa and widely grown especially for forage
Refreshed by food, Dill recited this narrative: having been
bound in chains and left to die in the basement (there were basements in
Meridian) by his new father, who disliked him, and secretly kept alive on raw
field peas by a passing farmer who heard his cries for help (the good man poked a
bushel pod by pod through the ventilator), Dill worked himself free by pulling the
chains from the wall.
the act of turning your head left and right to signify denial or disbelief or bemusement
Through all the headshaking,
quelling of nausea and Jem-yelling, I had heard another sound, so low I
could not have heard it from the sidewalk.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were
assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.
change directions as if revolving on a pivot
“Not being wheeled around
how something is done or how it happens
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
the upper part of the human body or the body in animals
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
a form of address for a married woman
When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries
(within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house
two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south.
the root of the mandrake plant
I so often wondered how she could be
Atticus’s and Uncle Jack’s sister that I revived half-remembered tales of
changelings and mandrake roots that Jem had spun long ago.
the brother of your father or mother
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
any of several trailing blackberry brambles especially of North America
The gentle hum of ladies’ voices grew louder as she opened the door: “Why,
Alexandra, I never saw such charlotte… just lovely… I never can get my crust
like this, never can… who’d‘ve thought of little dewberry tarts… Calpurnia?…
who’da thought it… anybody tell you that the preacher’s wife’s… nooo, well she
is, and that other one not walkin’ yet…”
They became quiet, and I knew they had all been served.
continue in a place, position, or situation
“If I didn’t have to stay I’d leave.
have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense
This was enough to make Jem march to the corner, where he stopped and leaned
against the light-pole, watching the gate hanging crazily on its homemade hinge.
any act of molesting, interrupting, hindering, agitating, or arousing from a state of repose or otherwise depriving inhabitants of the peace and quiet to which they are entitled
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
someone employed to collect and dispose of refuse
It was Zeebo, the garbage collector.
a temporary decline in health or value
Despite our compromise,
my campaign to avoid school had continued in one form or another since my first
day’s dose of it: the beginning of last September had brought on sinking spells,
dizziness, and mild gastric complaints.
a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep
She was all angles and bones; she was
nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.
(of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct
When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were
assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.
United States computer entrepreneur whose software company made him the youngest multi-billionaire in the history of the United States (born in 1955)
Aunt Alexandra got up from the table and swiftly passed more refreshments,
neatly engaging Mrs. Merriweather and Mrs. Gates in brisk conversation.
be present at (meetings, church services, university), etc.
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
where you live at a particular time
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
negation of a word or group of words
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
thing
a separate and self-contained entity
I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew
Jackson.
the middle of the day
The sun said twelve noon.
the branch of social psychology that studies the psychodynamics of interaction in social groups
Indeed,
they were an endless Project that slowly evolved into a Unit, in which miles of
construction paper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its
well-meaning but fruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics.
a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement
She gave the money to Dill, who went to the picture show
twenty times on it.
make an effort or attempt
“Let’s try to make him come out,” said Dill.
made smooth by applying a sticky or glossy substance
See how they’ve been slicked up?
a retail shop where medicine and other articles are sold
By the time Mrs. Cat called the drugstore for
an order of chocolate malted mice the class was wriggling like a bucketful of
catawba worms.
I licked it and waited
for a while.
a United States coin worth one tenth of a dollar
As
Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for
doctors and dentists and lawyers.
look at carefully; study mentally
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
detected or perceived via the auditory sense
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
As I was the last to leave, I saw her sink
down into her chair and bury her head in her arms.
“Everybody who goes home to lunch hold up your hands,” said Miss Caroline,
breaking into my new grudge against Calpurnia.
trousers that end at or above the knee
He had
discarded the abominable blue shorts that were buttoned to his shirts and wore
real short pants with a belt; he was somewhat heavier, no taller, and said he had
seen his father.
become quiet or still; fall silent
Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush, a sure sign that Dill had been studied and
found acceptable.
the father of your father or mother
You can teach me like Granddaddy taught
you ‘n’ Uncle Jack.”
a room equipped for preparing meals
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
term of address for a man
When he passed we would look at the ground and say,
“Good morning, sir,” and he would cough in reply.
make neat, smart, or trim
See how they’ve been slicked up?
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for a family
He remembered her clearly, and
sometimes in the middle of a game he would sigh at length, then go off and play
by himself behind the car- house.
the crime of forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse
“Well, if everybody in Maycomb knows what kind of folks the Ewells are they’d
be glad to hire Helen… what’s rape, Cal?”
“It’s somethin‘ you’ll have to ask Mr. Finch about,” she said.
turn on or around an axis or a center
“Tell you what,” said Jem. “We’ll keep ‘em till school starts, then go around and
ask everybody if they’re theirs.
want
the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable
I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew
Jackson.
the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down
But to climb the Radley front steps
and call, “He-y,” of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did.
the course along which a person has walked or is walking in
But to climb the Radley front steps
and call, “He-y,” of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did.
a crime so serious that capital punishment is considered appropriate
“You know rape’s a capital offense in Alabama,” said Atticus.
the point where three areas or surfaces meet or intersect
In spite of our warnings and explanations it
drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on
the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate.
Confederate general during the American Civil War who was defeated by Grant in the battle of Chattanooga (1817-1876)
Local opinion held Mr. Underwood to be an intense, profane little man, whose
father in a fey fit of humor christened Braxton Bragg, a name Mr. Underwood had
done his best to live down.
not firmly fastened or secured
I unlatched the back door and held it while he crept down the steps.
an educational institution
“Scout yonder’s
As she raised her hand and swore that
the evidence she gave would be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth so help her God, she seemed somehow fragile-looking, but when she sat
facing us in the witness chair she became what she was, a thick-bodied girl
accustomed to strenuous labor.
squeeze someone for money, information, etc.
I followed, and held up
the wire for Jem. It was a tight squeeze for him.
exterior door (at the entrance) at the front of a building
My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk
to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas.
the continuum of experience in which events pass to the past
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
treated so as to become resistant
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somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
tree of southern United States and Mexico cultivated for its nuts
The Maycomb school
grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall
pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the
children: Radley pecans would kill you.
breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
at or in the front
Dr. Reynolds parked his car in front of our house and walked to the
Radley’s every time he called.
foil made of tin or an alloy of tin and lead
Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in
the afternoon sun.
a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and millerite
As
Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for
doctors and dentists and lawyers.
a barrier that serves to enclose an area
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
used to allude to the securities industry of the United States
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
additional evidence or evidence of different kind that supports a proof already offered in a proceeding
All the spectators were as relaxed as Judge Taylor, except Jem. His mouth was
twisted into a purposeful half-grin, and his eyes happy about, and he said
something about corroborating evidence, which made me sure he was showing off.
Dizzy and nauseated, I lay on the cement
and shook my head still, pounded my ears to silence, and heard Jem’s voice:
“Scout, get away from there, come on!”
relating to or being on the side closer to the center or within a defined space
Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom.
the state of being covered with unclean things
“Living in that jungle with nobody but J. Grimes
Everett,” she said.
parasitic bloodsucking roundworms having hooked mouth parts to fasten to the intestinal wall of human and other hosts
Walter Cunningham’s face told everybody in the first grade he had hookworms.
perform or carry out
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
the principal law-enforcement officer in a county
Mrs. Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur was killing them all, but
when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the livingroom, cutting up the
Tribune.
I once asked Atticus if it ever had any;
Atticus said yes, but before I was born.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
from a particular thing or place or position
He remembered her clearly, and
sometimes in the middle of a game he would sigh at length, then go off and play
by himself behind the car-house.
bear a physical resemblance to
“ Looks like he’d just stick
his head out the door.”
the area of a theater or hall where the audience sits
The high-school
auditorium would be open, there would be a pageant for the grown-ups; applebobbing,
taffy-pulling, pinning the tail on the donkey for the children.
a tire consisting of a rubber ring around the rim of an automobile wheel
I ran to the back yard and pulled an old car tire from under the house.
a number in a system based on ten
It’s the Dewey Decimal System.”
the bank of a river
Smoke was rolling off our house and Miss Rachel’s house like fog off a
riverbank, and men were pulling hoses toward them.
recall knowledge; have a recollection
She had been with us ever since Jem
was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
He liked
Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they
knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood
or marriage to nearly every family in the town.
the coldest season of the year
Hours of wintertime had found me in the treehouse, looking over at the
schoolyard, spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope Jem
had given me, learning their games, following Jem’s red jacket through wriggling
circles of blind man’s buff, secretly sharing their misfortunes and minor victories.
tender leaves of young white turnips
That spring when we found a crokersack full of turnip
greens, Atticus said Mr. Cunningham had more than paid him.
optical instrument consisting of a frame that holds a pair of lenses for correcting defective vision
Calpurnia set a pitcher and three glasses on the porch, then
went about her business.
a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality
I was to stick with the first grade and he would stick with the
fifth.
pull with a sudden movement
I
interrupted to make Uncle Jack let me know when he would pull it out, but he
held up a bloody splinter in a pair of tweezers and said he yanked it while I was
laughing, that was what was known as relativity.
a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition
Jem yelled.
a human being
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
look at and say out loud something written or printed
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
likes Jem better’n she likes me, anyway,” I concluded, and suggested that Atticus
lose no time in packing her off.
devoid of talent; not gifted
Jem said Mr. Avery misfigured, Dill said he must drink a
gallon a day, and the ensuing contest to determine relative distances and
respective prowess only made me feel left out again, as I was untalented in this
area.
not special in any way
In his lawyer’s voice, without a shade of
inflection, he said: “Your aunt has asked me to try and impress upon you and Jean
Louise that you are not from run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of
several generations’ gentle breeding—” Atticus paused, watching me locate an
elusive redbug on my leg.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
People said he went out at night when the moon was down,
and peeped in windows.
the time you go to bed
We decorated the tree until bedtime, and that night I dreamed of the two long
packages for Jem and me.
hand tool having a toothed blade for cutting
Mr. Radley’s elder son lived
in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we
ever saw enter or leave the place.
any flowering vine of the genus Wisteria
When he completed his
an informal term for a father
“Your daddy Mr. Walter Cunningham from Old
Sarum?” he asked, and Walter nodded.
a hard candy with lemon flavor and a yellow color and (usually) the shape of a lemon
It had been
a placid week: I had minded Aunty; Jem had outgrown the treehouse, but helped
Dill and me construct a new rope ladder for it; Dill had hit upon a foolproof plan
to make Boo Radley come out at no cost to ourselves (place a trail of lemon drops
from the back door to the front yard and he’d follow it, like an ant).
airtight sealed metal container for food or drink, etc.
“I can read.”
a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
His
moved around an axis or center
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
cause to be in a certain state
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
someone against whom an action is brought in a court of law
“Maybe he doesn’t have anywhere to run off to…”
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After many telephone calls, much pleading on behalf of the defendant, and a long
forgiving letter from his mother, it was decided that Dill could stay.
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we
sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.
chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth
I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached
into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer
wrappers.
worthless material that is to be disposed of
“Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he
works for!”
get up on the back of
“He’ll probably come out after you when he sees you
in the yard, then Scout’n‘ me’ll jump on him and hold him down till we can tell
him we ain’t gonna hurt him.”
grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall
pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the
children: Radley pecans would kill you.
a strong feeling of anxiety
Jem, that damn lady says Atticus’s been
teaching me to read and for him to stop it-”
“Don’t worry, Scout,” Jem comforted me.
in a good or satisfactory manner or to a high standard
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
a port in southwestern Alabama on Mobile Bay
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
the sawhorses were taken away, and we stood watching from the front porch
when Mr. Radley made his final journey past our house.
a quarrel about petty points
“There goes the meanest man ever God blew breath into,” murmured Calpurnia,
and she spat meditatively into the yard.
a chair mounted on rockers
I saw Atticus carrying Miss
Maudie’s heavy oak rocking chair, and thought it sensible of him to save what she
valued most.
a polite name for any woman
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
walk by dragging one's feet
They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of
the stores around it, took their time about everything.
move around an axis or a center
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
a local branch where postal services are available"
It was our habit to run meet Atticus the moment
we saw him round the post office corner in the distance.
cut away in small pieces
Boo bit it off one night when he couldn’t find
any cats and squirrels to eat.); she sat in the livingroom and cried most of the
time, while Boo slowly whittled away all the furniture in the house.
He drew out an envelope,
then reached into his vest pocket and unclipped his fountain pen.
a songbook containing a collection of hymns
“How’re we gonna sing it if there ain’t any hymnbooks?”
a day specified for religious observance
The fact that Aunty
was a good cook was some compensation for being forced to spend a religious
holiday with Francis Hancock.
go away from a place
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
a subdivision of a written work; usually numbered and titled
1960
connect, fasten, or put together two or more pieces
On the way home I nearly hit Mr. Link Deas, who said, “Look
out now, Scout!” when I missed a toss, and when we approached Mrs. Dubose’s
house my baton was grimy from having picked it up out of the dirt so many times.
the act of spitting (forcefully expelling saliva)
“There goes the meanest man ever God blew breath into,” murmured Calpurnia,
and she spat meditatively into the yard.
take
get into one's hands
I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew
Jackson.
in or to or toward the rear
He remembered her clearly, and
sometimes in the middle of a game he would sigh at length, then go off and play
by himself behind the car-house.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
It was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon’s homestead,
Finch’s Landing, and make their living from cotton.
a card with words or numbers or pictures that is flashed to a class by the teacher
The second grade was as bad as the first, only worse—they still
flashed cards at you and wouldn’t let you read or write.
a river in Alabama formed by the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers near Montgomery; flows southwestward to become a tributary of the Mobile River
So Simon, having forgotten
his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves and
with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some
forty miles above Saint Stephens.
a hand tool for holding consisting of a compound lever for grasping
I
interrupted to make Uncle Jack let me know when he would pull it out, but he
held up a bloody splinter in a pair of tweezers and said he yanked it while I was
laughing, that was what was known as relativity.
a fine grained mineral having a soft soapy feel and consisting of hydrated magnesium silicate; used in a variety of products including talcum powder
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
damage or destroy as if by violence
She was mighty
unconsciousness resulting from lack of knowledge or attention
High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in
blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in, plunging from the shrill kee, kee of
the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of a bluejay, to the sad lament of Poor
Will, Poor Will, Poor Will.
tested and proved to be reliable
I tried again: “Walter’s one of the Cunninghams, Miss Caroline.”
cut, scrape, or wear away the surface of
I’ve seen his tracks in our back yard many a mornin’, and one night I heard
him scratching on the back screen, but he was gone time Atticus got there.”
the part of the day between noon and evening
Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting: ladies wore
corsets, men wore coats, children wore shoes.
a stage area out of sight of the audience
I went with Cecil down
to the front of the auditorium, through a door on one side, and backstage.
a metal rod wielded or twirled by a drum major or majorette
Jem thought he had enough to buy a
miniature steam engine for himself and a twirling baton for me.
stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his
palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful.
large genus of African trees bearing kola nuts
A few graves in the cemetery were marked with crumbling
tombstones; newer ones were outlined with brightly colored glass and broken
Coca- Cola bottles.
on one occasion
Miss Stephanie Crawford
said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight
through the window at her… said his head was like a skull lookin‘ at her.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
She had been with us ever since Jem
was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.
move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut
It was all right to shut him up, Mr.
Radley conceded, but insisted that Boo not be charged with anything: he was not
a criminal.
firearm that is a double-barreled smoothbore shoulder weapon for firing shot at short ranges
Halfway through the collards I tripped; as I tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered
the neighborhood.
He drew out an envelope,
then reached into his vest pocket and unclipped his fountain pen.
the lower joint of the leg of a chicken
“I’da got her told,” growled Dill, gnawing a chicken leg, “but she didn’t look
much like tellin‘ this morning.
a board having 64 squares of two alternating colors
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more
than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
The following Monday afternoon Jem and I climbed the steep front steps to Mrs.
Dubose’s house and padded down the open hallway.
a machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers
Reverend Sykes leaned across me and whispered to Jem. “He got it caught in a
cotton gin, caught it in Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s cotton gin when he was a boy…
like to bled to death… tore all the muscles loose from his bones—”
Atticus said, “Is this the man who raped you?”
a platform projecting from the wall of a building
Do you all reckon it’ll be all right if you all came to the
balcony with me?”
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
People said he went out at night when the moon was down,
and peeped in windows.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
the attire characteristic of a country, time or social class
There
would also be a prize of twenty-five cents for the best Halloween costume,
created by the wearer.
appear or become visible; make a showing
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
a building in which the business of banking transacted
Atticus’s office was in the courthouse when he began his law practice, but after
several years of it he moved to quieter quarters in the Maycomb Bank building.
a motion of the body by a player as if to make an object already propelled go in the desired direction
I was beginning to learn his body English.
satisfied or showing satisfaction with things as they are
1960
a performer or enthusiast of an alienated rock subculture
Punk, punk, punk, her needle
broke the taut circle.
a tough paper used for wrapping
Jem, there’s some wrapping paper in the
pantry, I think.
utter a sudden loud cry
Mrs. Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur was killing them all, but
when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the livingroom, cutting up the
Tribune.
apply force so as to cause motion towards the source of the motion
As he told us the old tale his blue eyes would lighten and
darken; his laugh was sudden and happy; he habitually pulled at a cowlick in the
center of his forehead.
smoke one cigarette after another
Bert, the
of the color of slate or granite
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
screen to keep insects from entering a building through the open window
Jem turned out the livingroom lights and pressed his nose to a window screen.
have on one's mind, think about actively
Jem thought about it for three days.
proof that a will was properly signed and executed
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
get it
understand, usually after some initial difficulty
“I hope you’ve got it through your head that he’ll kill us each and every one, Dill
Harris,” said Jem, when we joined him.
an impudent or insolent rejoinder
I don’t mean to sass you, I’m just tryin‘
to tell you.”
a building where young people receive education
Often as not, Miss Maudie and I
would sit silently on her porch, watching the sky go from yellow to pink as the
sun went down, watching flights of martins sweep low over the neighborhood and
disappear behind the schoolhouse rooftops.
someone who is eating lunch
Hey, look—”
Some invisible signal had made the lunchers on the square rise and scatter bits of
newspaper, cellophane, and wrapping paper.
any movable possession (especially articles of clothing)
“If you are, then-”
the warmest season of the year
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
the point where the optic nerve enters the retina
“Mr.
Cunningham’s basically a good man,” he said, “he just has his blind spots along
with the rest of us.”
an official who evaluates property for the purpose of taxing it
To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county
cubbyholes: the tax assessor, the tax collector, the county clerk, the county
solicitor, the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that
smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine.
having been made especially tidy
See how they’ve been slicked up?
a cup from which coffee is drunk
Her voice soared over the clink of coffee cups
and the soft bovine sounds of the ladies munching their dainties.
headdress that protects the head from bad weather
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more
than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
the sound made by the vibration of vocal folds
Impatience crept into Miss Caroline’s voice: “Here Walter, come get it.”
reach, make, or come to a conclusion about something
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
a person with dark skin who comes from Africa
A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut
across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked.
move upwards
Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food: his eyes, as blue as Dill
Harris’s, were red-rimmed and watery.
county courthouse
the town or city that is the seat of government for a county
“Naw, we better wait till they get in, Atticus might not like it if he sees us,” said
Jem.
The Maycomb County courthouse was faintly reminiscent of Arlington in one
respect: the concrete pillars supporting its south roof were too heavy for their light
burden.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
The
collection taken up today and for the next three Sundays will go to Helen—his
wife, to help her out at home.”
wanted
desired or wished for or sought
I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew
Jackson.
give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
A day was twenty-four
one of the four pointed conical teeth (two in each jaw) located between the incisors and the premolars
She called us by all our
names, and when she grinned she revealed two minute gold prongs clipped to her
eyeteeth.
come to pass
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard
from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked
much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer
was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a
right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm,
mm, mm.”
coming next after the twentieth in position
Mr. Tate said, “It was the night of November twenty-first.
having lived for a long time or attained a specific age
We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted
Atticus.
“But we can’t have communion with you all-”
Apparently deciding that it was easier to define primitive baptistry than closed
communion, Miss Maudie said: “Foot-washers believe anything that’s pleasure is
a sin.
increase in size by natural process
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
“Lemme think a minute…
it’s sort of like making a turtle come out…”
“How’s that?” asked Dill.
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
move or cause to move back and forth
The Maycomb school
grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall
pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the
children: Radley pecans would kill you.
take hold of so as to seize or stop the motion of
Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall,
judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch,
that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could
never wash the blood off.
cut into pieces
Mollified, Mayella gave Atticus a final terrified glance and said to Mr. Gilmer,
“Well sir, I was on the porch and—and he came along and, you see, there was this
old chiffarobe in the yard Papa’d brought in to chop up for kindlin‘—Papa told
me to do it while he was off in the woods but I wadn’t feelin’ strong enough then,
so he came by-”
Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to
do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the-son-of-a-bitch-had-itcoming-
to-him was a good enough defense for anybody.
on certain occasions or in certain cases but not always
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we
sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.
being or located on or directed toward the side of the body to the west when facing north
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
a statement made to reply to a question or criticism
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard
from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked
much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer
was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a
right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm,
mm, mm.”
engage in recreational activities rather than work
When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were
assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we
sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.
a legendary king of the Britons
If the judge released Arthur, Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no
further trouble.
container for holding implements and materials for work
She sat in her chair with her workbasket beside it, her rug spread across her lap.
an undergarment with shirt and drawers in one piece
Now that I was compelled to think about
it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of
my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of
shoelaces.
a bag made of burlap
She was bending over
unable to see distant objects clearly
She was all angles and bones; she was
nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.
a framework for holding wood that is being sawed
Wooden sawhorses blocked the road at each end of the
Radley lot, straw was put down on the sidewalk, traffic was diverted to the back
street.
a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
using or intended for the left hand
“You’re left-handed, Mr. Ewell,” said Judge Taylor.
a movable barrier in a fence or wall
In spite of our warnings and explanations it
drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on
the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate.
any group of human beings collectively
He liked
Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they
knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood
or marriage to nearly every family in the town.
biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow
I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached
into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer
wrappers.
(used of count nouns) each and all of the members of a group considered singly and without exception
He liked
Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they
knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood
or marriage to nearly every family in the town.
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
When Walter shook his head a third time someone whispered, “Go on and tell
her, Scout.”
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
His father entered the room.
a liquor made from fermented mash of grain
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
having the shrewd resourcefulness needed to survive in an urban environment
They buy me everything I want, but it’s now—you’ve-got-it-go-play- with-it.
a tuft of hair in a different direction from the rest
As he told us the old tale his blue eyes would lighten and
darken; his laugh was sudden and happy; he habitually pulled at a cowlick in the
center of his forehead.
a watch that is carried in a small watch pocket
It was a pocket watch that wouldn’t
run, on a chain with an aluminum knife.
find the solution to or understand the meaning of
But I never figured out how Atticus knew I was listening, and it was
not until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said.
lacking any regular or logical organization
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
a narrow marking of a different color from the background
Aunt Alexandra, in underlining the moral of young Sam Merriweather’s suicide,
said it was caused by a morbid streak in the family.
a flying, nocturnal beetle that produces a luminescent glow
Lightning bugs were still about,
the night crawlers and flying insects that beat against the screen the summer long
had not gone wherever they go when autumn comes.
the mother of your father or mother
“ Grandma’s a wonderful cook,” said Francis.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
United States novelist and author of the Tarzan stories
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
an assembly to conduct judicial business
He was in court one time and they asked him his
name.
the state capital of Alabama on the Mobile River
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
produced by a manufacturing process
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
enter and rob a dwelling
“But why should he try to burgle John Taylor’s house?
She says they’re clean-living
folks.
a coarse durable twill-weave cotton fabric
Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted
and floursack-skirted first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs
from the time they were able to walk, were immune to imaginative literature.
cause to operate by flipping a switch
Atticus switched on the ceiling light in the livingroom and found us there, frozen
still.
a soft partly suppressed laugh
When we left her, she was still chuckling.
refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent
Uncle Jack said if I talked like that he’d lick me again, so I was quiet.
small hard-shelled nut of North American hickory trees especially the shagbark hickories
Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps.
utter a sudden loud cry
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
move with force, "He pushed the table into a corner"
“You c’n push.”
fragile twining plant of South Africa with bright green flattened stems and glossy foliage popular as a floral decoration
With Christmas came a
perceive by inhaling through the nose
I sniffed it and it smelled all right.
a boat used on rivers or to ply a river
The place was self-sufficient:
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
the hour at which a meal is habitually or customarily eaten
These were abstract speculations for the first month of her stay, as she had little to
say to Jem or me, and we saw her only at mealtimes and at night before we went
to bed.
United States comedienne who starred in early television shows with Sid Caesar (1908-2001)
A few graves in the cemetery were marked with crumbling
tombstones; newer ones were outlined with brightly colored glass and broken
Coca-Cola bottles.
a door that swings on a double hinge
Calpurnia sent me through the swinging door to the diningroom with a stinging
smack.
a small bed that folds up for storage or transport
Summer was our
best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep
in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a
parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.
a room that contains a furnace for heating the building
Left to its own devices, the class tied Eunice Ann Simpson to a
chair and placed her in the furnace room.
fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having tuberous starchy roots and hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long hairy pods containing many seeds; grown for fodder and forage and root starch; widespread in the southern United States
At first we saw nothing but a kudzu-covered front porch,
but a closer inspection revealed an arc of water descending from the leaves and
splashing in the yellow circle of the street light, some ten feet from source to
earth, it seemed to us.
beyond the top or upper surface or edge
“Why don’t you come over,
Charles Baker Harris?” he said.
the first largest innermost toe
The next day Dill said, “You’re too scared even
to put your big toe in the front yard.”
Dill had seen Dracula, a revelation that moved Jem to eye him with the beginning
of respect.
electromagnetic radiation that can produce visual sensation
In spite of our warnings and explanations it
drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on
the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate.
release, as from one's grip
“ Let’s go in the front yard.”
a hinged blind for a window
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
having desirable or positive qualities
The
Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to
do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the-son-of-a-bitch-had-itcoming-
to-him was a good enough defense for anybody.
a dull resonant sound as of a bell
The old courthouse clock suffered its preliminary strain and struck the hour, eight
deafening bongs that shook our bones.
a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
the pedal extremity of vertebrates other than human beings
Bet it’s a foot longer.”
one or some or every or all without specification
“Lord, what a name.”
Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to some members of the family that
we had no recorded ancestors on either side of the Battle of Hastings.
the third finger (especially of the left hand)
“You’ll have a very
unladylike scar on your wedding- ring finger.”
any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal
When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were
assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.
erect bushy mallow plant or small tree bearing bolls containing seeds with many long hairy fibers
It was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon’s homestead,
Finch’s Landing, and make their living from cotton.
relating to or characteristic of or being a member of the traditional racial division of mankind having brown to black pigmentation and tightly curled hair
The sheriff hadn’t the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so
Boo was locked in the courthouse basement.
hard to endure
“I’m just trying to tell you the new way they’re teachin‘ the first grade, stubborn.
in a cheerful manner
If I said as sunnily as I could, “Hey, Mrs.
Dubose,” I would receive for an answer, “Don’t you say hey to me, you ugly girl!
a visual attribute of things from the light they emit
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
the part of the large intestine between the cecum and rectum
A few graves in the cemetery were marked with crumbling
tombstones; newer ones were outlined with brightly colored glass and broken
Coca- Cola bottles.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
“Don’t have any picture shows here, except Jesus ones in the courthouse
sometimes,” said Jem. “Ever see anything good?”
a simple version of hockey played by children on the streets (or on ice or on a field) using a ball or can as the puck
Miss Maudie Atkinson baked a Lane cake so loaded
with shinny it made me tight; Miss Stephanie Crawford had long visits with Aunt
Alexandra, consisting mostly of Miss Stephanie shaking her head and saying,
“Uh, uh, uh.”
He placed the young town too far away from the only kind of public
transportation in those days—river-boat—and it took a man from the north end of
the county two days to travel to Maycomb for store-bought goods.
the customary or habitual hour for the evening meal
We parted at suppertime, and after our meal Jem and I were settling down to a
routine evening, when Atticus did something that interested us: he came into the
livingroom carrying a long electrical extension cord.
a sudden very loud noise
Bam, bam, bam, and the checkerboard was swept clean of my men.
a queue of people waiting for free food
The Governor was eager to scrape a few
barnacles off the ship of state; there were sit-down strikes in Birmingham; bread
lines in the cities grew longer, people in the country grew poorer.
social or financial or professional status or reputation
Walter had picked himself up and was standing quietly listening to Jem and me.
become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet
We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted
Atticus.
put clothing on one's body
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
invite someone to one's house
“Are you all right, darling?” she asked over and over as she
worked me free.
the grounds at either side of a house
We leaped over the driveway wall, cut through Miss Rachel’s side yard and went
to Dill’s window.
a can for storing ground coffee
One by one, the congregation came forward and dropped nickels and dimes into a
black enameled coffee can.
the time period between dawn and noon
Men’s stiff collars wilted by
nine in the morning.
having been robbed and destroyed by force and violence
I was just leaving my
office to go home when B—Mr. Ewell came in, very excited he was, and said get
out to his house quick, some nigger’d raped his girl.”
superior to another in excellence or quality or desirability
When he was like that, I knew better than to
bother him.
be conscious of a physical, mental, or emotional state
She had been with us ever since Jem
was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.
being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
a small pouch inside a garment for carrying small articles
Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed
with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies.
Dr. Reynolds parked his car in front of our house and walked to the
Radley’s every time he called.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted
Atticus.
in no respect; to no degree
They persisted in
pleading Not Guilty to first-degree murder, so there was nothing much Atticus
could do for his clients except be present at their departure, an occasion that was
probably the beginning of my father’s profound distaste for the practice of
criminal law.
any substance that causes injury or illness or death of a living organism
If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second
Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to
blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill
us all if we didn’t stand out of the way.
deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument
A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a
lost ball and no questions asked.
a long thin implement resembling a length of wood
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ
Mr. Radley’s elder son lived
in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we
ever saw enter or leave the place.
affected with madness or insanity
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
the brownish gum resin of various plants
The warm bittersweet smell of clean Negro welcomed us as we entered the
churchyard—Hearts of Love hairdressing mingled with asafoetida, snuff, Hoyt’s
Cologne, Brown’s Mule, peppermint, and lilac talcum.
with patience; in a patient manner
“You’re still scared,” murmured Dill patiently.
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)
But at supper that evening when I asked him to pass the damn ham, please, Uncle
Jack pointed at me.
in line with a length or direction
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
look for and gather
Miss Caroline picked up
her ruler, gave me half a dozen quick little pats, then told me to stand in the
corner.
mutter
talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
“Can’t get it off the pole,” he muttered, “or if I got it off I can’t make it stay.
It was not often that she made crackling bread, she said she never had time, but
with both of us at school today had been an easy one for her.
a point located with respect to surface features of a region
The place was self-sufficient:
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
a version of American football in which the ball carrier is touched rather than tackled
The Methodists were trying to pay off their church mortgage, and had
challenged the Baptists to a game of touch football.
a receptacle for spit (usually in a public place)
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more
than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
a small portable battery-powered electric lamp
“You should have brought the flashlight, Jem.”
“Didn’t know it was this dark.
a ball-and-socket joint between the head of the humerus and a cavity of the scapula
Shoulder up, I reeled around to face Boo Radley and his bloody fangs; instead, I
saw Dill ringing the bell with all his might in Atticus’s face.
take out or up with or as if with a scoop
Jem scooped up an armful of dirt, patted it into a mound on which he added
another load, and another until he had constructed a torso.
a kitchen appliance used for cooking food
The cats had long
conversations with one another, they wore cunning little clothes and lived in a
warm house beneath a kitchen stove.
the cardinal number that is the sum of eighteen and one
“ Nineteen-six and Scout, one of em’s nineteen-hundred.
the part of the stage on the actor's left as the actor faces the audience
Our only duties, as far as I could gather from our two rehearsals, were to enter
from stage left as Mrs. Merriweather (not only the author, but the narrator)
identified us.
a pocket in rear of trousers
He spat into the shrubbery,
then thrust his hands into his hip pockets and faced Atticus.
the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman
He sighed, and said rape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without
consent.
a building material that is a powder made of a mixture of calcined limestone and clay; used with water and sand or gravel to make concrete and mortar
Dizzy and nauseated, I lay on the cement
and shook my head still, pounded my ears to silence, and heard Jem’s voice:
“Scout, get away from there, come on!”
appearing to be as specified
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
Little Chuck Little, whose patience with all living things
was phenomenal, said, “Which way did he go, Miss Caroline?
a shallow receptacle for collection in church
Besides making change in the collection plate every Sunday, Mr. Avery sat on the
porch every night until nine o’clock and sneezed.
put (something) where one cannot find it again
Andrew Jackson appointed him to a position of authority, and Colonel
Maycomb’s misplaced self-confidence and slender sense of direction brought
disaster to all who rode with him in the Creek Indian Wars.
a conversational expression of gratitude
“Nome thank you ma’am,” he drawled softly.
a careful and thorough inspection
He nodded, produced his handkerchief, gave his face a going-over and blew his
nose violently.
a polygon with four equal sides and four right angles
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
set in motion, cause to start
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
at a distance in space or time
Rain-rotted shingles
an excited state of agitation
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
a plug used to close a hole in a barrel or flask
I
remember now, she was bunged up on that side of her face…”
Mr. Tate blinked again, as if something had suddenly been made plain to him.
a person who lives near another
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
funny
an account of an amusing incident
“We better go down there,” said Jem. “They’ll think it’s funny if we don’t show
up.”
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
appear in a show, on T.V. or radio
I was on the verge
of leavin’—I done done my time for this year.”
scissors for cutting hair or finger nails
Our activities halted when any of the neighbors appeared, and once I
saw Miss Maudie Atkinson staring across the street at us, her hedge clippers
poised in midair.
an infectious tropical disease resembling syphilis in its early stages; marked by red skin eruptions and ulcerating lesions
They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they
had no sense of family—I knew that’d distress Aunty—they subjected children to
terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and
earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot
and then got drunk on it.
Dill asked if I’d like to have a poke at
Boo Radley.
European plant naturalized in North America
“Cecil Jacobs is a big fat hen, I think.
drop and kick as it touches the ground, as for a field goal
It was only three forty-five when we got home, so Jem and I drop-kicked in the
back yard until it was time to meet Atticus.
one of the twelve Apostles (first century)
If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch
would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t?
give an incentive for action
Tim Johnson was advancing at a snail’s pace, but he was not playing or sniffing at
foliage: he seemed dedicated to one course and motivated by an invisible force
that was inching him toward us.
either side of the body below the waist and above the thigh
Miss Blount, a native Maycombian as yet uninitiated in the mysteries of the
Decimal System, appeared at the door hands on hips and announced: “If I hear
another sound from this room I’ll burn up everybody in it.
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
a loose-fitting robe of towelling; worn after a bath or swim
Atticus was holding out my bathrobe and coat.
a compact mass
“Ain’t hateful, just persuades him—‘s not like you’d chunk him in the fire,” Jem
growled.
greater in size or amount or extent or degree
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more
than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
“Let’s don’t pester him, he’ll know when it’s time,” said Jem.
The Abbottsville fire truck began pumping water on our house; a man on the roof
pointed to places that needed it most.
evidence providing only a basis for inference about the fact in dispute
We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that
Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with
his left.
a faucet for drawing water from a pipe or cask
When the men attached its hose to a hydrant, the hose burst
and water shot up, tinkling down on the pavement.
dismiss from the mind; stop remembering
So Simon, having forgotten
his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves and
with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some
forty miles above Saint Stephens.
act in a certain manner
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
with little weight or force
“Nome thank you ma’am,” he drawled softly.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to some members of the family that
we had no recorded ancestors on either side of the Battle of Hastings.
a harsh noise made by scraping
I’ve seen his tracks in our back yard many a mornin’, and one night I heard
him scratching on the back screen, but he was gone time Atticus got there.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one
1960
a small pocket in a man's vest
He drew out an envelope,
then reached into his vest pocket and unclipped his fountain pen.
the properties characteristic of the male sex
Dill’s maleness was beginning to assert itself.
a case with a handle; for carrying papers or files or books
Jem seized his briefcase and bag, I jumped into his arms, felt his vague
dry kiss and said, “‘d you bring me a book? ’d you know Aunty’s here?”
have in one's hands or grip
“He’ll probably come out after you when he sees you
in the yard, then Scout’n‘ me’ll jump on him and hold him down till we can tell
him we ain’t gonna hurt him.”
a garment worn on the upper half of the body
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
a hand with the fingers clenched in the palm
We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted
Atticus.
provoking fear terror
But Dill got him the third day, when he told Jem that folks in Meridian certainly
weren’t as afraid as the folks in Maycomb, that he’d never seen such scary folks
as the ones in Maycomb.
the upper side of the thighs of a seated person
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
below some quantity or limit
“Folks call me Dill,” said Dill, struggling under the fence.
become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style
Subdued, I fixed
my attention upon Reverend Sykes, who seemed to be waiting for me to settle
down.
move forward by leaps and bounds
Jem had his little sister to think of the
time I dared him to jump off the top of the house: “If I got killed, what’d become
of you?” he asked.
having a point
Miss Caroline pointed a shaking finger not at the floor nor at a desk, but to a
hulking individual unknown to me.
bit the dead cigar would disappear, to reappear some hours later as a flat slick
mess, its essence extracted and mingling with Judge Taylor’s digestive juices.
transfer possession of something concrete or abstract
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
a sudden noisy expulsion of air from the lungs that clears the air passages; a common symptom of upper respiratory infection or bronchitis or pneumonia or tuberculosis
When he passed we would look at the ground and say,
“Good morning, sir,” and he would cough in reply.
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
Jem brushed his hair back to get a better look.
printing by transferring an image from a photogravure plate to a cylinder in a rotary press
Behind the
rough oak pulpit a faded pink silk banner proclaimed God Is Love, the church’s
only decoration except a rotogravure print of Hunt’s The Light of the World.
not funny; especially failing to achieve the intended humor
In obedience to my father, there followed what I later realized was a sickeningly
comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers.
a public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business)
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of
Miss Caroline and I had conferred twice already, and they were
looking at me in the innocent assurance that familiarity breeds understanding.
the arch of hair above each eye
I suppose she chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint
line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First
Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she
discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste.
forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority
Through all the headshaking,
quelling of nausea and Jem-yelling, I had heard another sound, so low I
could not have heard it from the sidewalk.
a professional person authorized for legal practice
1960
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
one of a series of hooks used to hold cloth on a tenter
I waited, on tenterhooks, for Uncle Jack to tell Atticus my side of it.
discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
He returned to Saint Stephens only once, to find
a wife, and with her established a line that ran high to daughters.
talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
I mumbled that I was sorry and retired meditating upon my crime.
cause to experience suddenly
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
furnished or closed with buttons or something buttonlike
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
footwear shaped to fit the foot (below the ankle) with a flexible upper of leather or plastic and a sole and heel of heavier material
Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting: ladies wore
corsets, men wore coats, children wore shoes.
She boarded across the street one door down from us in Miss Maudie Atkinson’s
upstairs front room, and when Miss Maudie introduced us to her, Jem was in a
haze for days.
arrive at the point of
“That’s okay, ma’am, you’ll get to know all the county folks after a while.
affected by impairment of normal physical or mental function
The old house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we
thought we saw an inside shutter move.
of the most contemptible kind
I can’t conceive of
anyone low-down enough to do a thing like this, but I hope you found him.”
a radical who advocates the abolition of social distinctions
Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but
in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are
created equal.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
stop sleeping
Miss Stephanie Crawford
said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight
through the window at her… said his head was like a skull lookin‘ at her.
a piece of land where waste materials are dumped
Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a
Negro cabin.
a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations
Scout, you’ll get in trouble if you go around saying things
like that.
Burris seemed to be afraid of a child half his height, and Miss Caroline took
advantage of his indecision: “Burris, go home.
without any others being included or involved
All we had
was Simon Finch, a fur-trapping apothecary from Cornwall whose piety was
exceeded only by his stinginess.
a room (as in a residence) containing a bathtub or shower and usually a washbasin and toilet
Sometimes when we made a
midnight pilgrimage to the bathroom we would find him reading.
having or showing great strength, force, or intensity
Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s
yo‘ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’ on their ways like you
was so high and mighty!
something interesting that stimulates conversation
The jail was
Maycomb’s only conversation piece: its detractors said it looked like a Victorian
privy; its supporters said it gave the town a good solid respectable look, and no
stranger would ever suspect that it was full of niggers.
dried beans cooked with pork and tomato sauce
Dill made his way through the leftovers and was reaching for a can of pork and
beans in the pantry when Miss Rachel’s Do-oo Je-sus went off in the hall.
the child of your aunt or uncle
“You sound like Cousin Ike Finch,” I said.
a bottle for holding whiskey
“You are too young to
understand it,” she said, “but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse
than a whiskey bottle in the hand of—oh, of your father.”
a long narrow passage (as in a cave or woods)
Zeebo rose from his pew and walked down the center aisle, stopping in front of us
and facing the congregation.
that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard
from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked
much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer
was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a
right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm,
mm, mm.”
any of various substances that exude from certain plants
I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached
into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer
wrappers.
a brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure
He would probably have poured it into his milk glass had I not
asked what the sam hill he was doing.
edge tool used as a cutting instrument
It was a pocket watch that wouldn’t
run, on a chain with an aluminum knife.
impart skills or knowledge to
Miss
Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more, it would interfere
with my reading.
the protruding part of the lower jaw
I crawled into his lap and tucked my head
under his chin.
pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance
Miss Caroline came to the end of the story and said, “Oh, my, wasn’t that nice?”
a jury that is unable to agree on a verdict
“If we’d had two of that crowd, we’d’ve had a hung jury.”
tin can
airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc.
Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I
know you’ll go after birds.
Through the weeks he had cultivated an expression of polite and
detached interest, which he would present to her in answer to her most bloodcurdling
inventions.
the inside lower horizontal surface
Miss Caroline pointed a shaking finger not at the floor nor at a desk, but to a
hulking individual unknown to me.
unroll, unfold, or spread out or be unrolled, unfolded, or spread out from a furled state
I thought they must be coldnatured,
as their sleeves were unrolled and buttoned at the cuffs.
having finished or arrived at completion
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
being level or straight or regular and without variation
“Scout yonder’s
a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation
The Levy family met all criteria for being Fine Folks: they did the best they could
with the sense they had, and they had been living on the same plot of ground in
Maycomb for five generations.
an attacker who pelts the victim with stones
“Heard every word you said,” I muttered. “…
wasn’t sleep at all, ‘s about a ship an’ Three-Fingered Fred ‘n’ Stoner’s Boy…”
He unhooked my overalls, leaned me against him, and pulled them off.
deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
Soft taffeta-like sounds and
Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall,
judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch,
that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could
never wash the blood off.
desk or stand with a slanted top used to hold a text
I got rid
of my ham costume and departed in a hurry, for Mrs. Merriweather was standing
at a lectern in front of the first row of seats making last-minute, frenzied changes
in the script.
a board used to support the back of someone or something
He had walked ten or eleven of
the fourteen miles to Maycomb, off the highway in the scrub bushes lest the
authorities be seeking him, and had ridden the remainder of the way clinging to
the backboard of a cotton wagon.
bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow
Her face was the color of a dirty pillowcase, and the corners of
her mouth glistened with wet, which inched like a glacier down the deep grooves
enclosing her chin.
partly close one's eyes, as when hit by direct light
She was all angles and bones; she was
nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.
any of the terminal members of the hand
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
draw a line or lines underneath to call attention to
Jem underlined it when he asked Atticus if he was going out for the Methodists
and Atticus said he’d break his neck if he did, he was just too old for that sort of
thing.
having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty
Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush, a sure sign that Dill had been studied and
found acceptable.
partition consisting of a decorative frame or panel that serves to divide a space
The Radley house had no screen doors.
be a substitute
Now lemme think… reckon we can rock him…”
Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: “I won’t say you
ran out on a dare an‘ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the
house.”
a long rod of wood, metal, or plastic
In spite of our warnings and explanations it
drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light- pole on
the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate.
food and lodging provided in addition to money
Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us,
read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment.
dressed in fancy or formal clothing
One or two of the jury looked vaguely like dressed-up
Cunninghams.
the child of your aunt or uncle
Double first cousin.”
the act of traveling by foot
Walking south, one
take a short break from one's activities in order to relax
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
a World War I battle in northwestern France where the Allies defeated the Germans in 1918
If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second
Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to
blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill
us all if we didn’t stand out of the way.
a tenant in someone's house
Why, I’ll build me a little house and take me a couple of
roomers and—gracious, I’ll have the finest yard in Alabama.
cut small bits or pare shavings from
Boo bit it off one night when he couldn’t find
any cats and squirrels to eat.); she sat in the livingroom and cried most of the
time, while Boo slowly whittled away all the furniture in the house.
a hired hand on a farm
There was a kitchen separate from the rest of the house, tacked onto it by a
wooden catwalk; in the back yard was a rusty bell on a pole, used to summon
field hands or as a distress signal; a widow’s walk was on the roof, but no widows
walked there—from it, Simon oversaw his overseer, watched the river-boats, and
gazed into the lives of surrounding landholders.
a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
“Grandma,” he bawled, “she called me a
whore-lady and jumped on me!”
the period of time that it takes for a planet (as, e.g., Earth or Mars) to make a complete revolution around the sun
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we
sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.
the force of workers available
It was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon’s homestead,
Finch’s Landing, and make their living from cotton.
Ground, sky and houses melted into a mad palette, my ears throbbed, I was
suffocating.
first day of the week
Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting: ladies wore
corsets, men wore coats, children wore shoes.
spill or splash copiously or clumsily
Jem sloshed water over the mud man and added more
dirt.
the town or city that is the seat of government for a county
Maycomb, some twenty miles east of Finch’s Landing, was the county
seat of Maycomb County.
be the source of pain
“How do you know a match don’t hurt him?”
come into being or existence, or appear on the scene
If anyone came along, Dill would ring the bell.
It was customary for field
Negroes with tiny children to deposit them in whatever shade there was while
their parents worked—usually the babies sat in the shade between two rows of
cotton.
a tightrope very high above the ground
We thought it was better to go under
the high wire fence at the rear of the Radley lot, we stood less chance of being
seen.
at or in the front
Walter looked straight ahead.
mechanical vibrations transmitted by an elastic medium
When Dill reduced Dracula to dust, and Jem said the show sounded better than
the book, I asked Dill where his father was: “You ain’t said anything about him.”
Hours of wintertime had found me in the treehouse, looking over at the
schoolyard, spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope Jem
had given me, learning their games, following Jem’s red jacket through wriggling
circles of blind man’s buff, secretly sharing their misfortunes and minor victories.
exchange or give in exchange for
Now lemme think… reckon we can rock him…”
Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: “I won’t say you
ran out on a dare an‘ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the
house.”
stay clear of, avoid
Lastly, we
were to stay away from that house until we were invited there, we were not to
play an asinine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street
or in this town-
“We weren’t makin‘ fun of him, we weren’t laughin’ at him,” said Jem, “we were
just-”
To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county
cubbyholes: the tax assessor, the tax collector, the county clerk, the county
solicitor, the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that
smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine.
put into a new order or arrangement
She just rearranged food on her plate,
looking at it sadly while Calpurnia served Jem, Dill and me with a vengeance.
an impression in a surface, as made by a blow
“Don’t blame me when he gouges your
eyes out.
a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
Aunt Alexandra was Atticus’s sister, but when Jem told me about changelings and
siblings, I decided that she had been swapped at birth, that my grandparents had
perhaps received a Crawford instead of a Finch.
a joint of a finger when the fist is closed
Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued,
and crooned softly, “Nigger-lover…”
equally skillful with each hand
“About your writing with your left
hand, are you ambidextrous, Mr. Ewell?”
a British lawyer who gives legal advice
To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county
cubbyholes: the tax assessor, the tax collector, the county clerk, the county
solicitor, the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that
smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
That cat thing
was real fine this mornin‘…
Miss Caroline smiled, blew her nose, said, “Thank you, darlings,” dispersed us,
opened a book and mystified the first grade with a long narrative about a toadfrog
that lived in a hall.
not sealed or having been unsealed
Miss Caroline went to her desk and opened her purse.
place or press the foot on
Don’t step on it!”
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we
sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.
with the full authority of the office
I remembered something he had
said about Judge Taylor’s ex cathedra remarks sometimes exceeding his duty, but
that few lawyers ever did anything about them.
a university town in west central Indiana on the Wabash River
When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries
(within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house
two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south.
stop sleeping
Miss Stephanie Crawford
said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight
through the window at her… said his head was like a skull lookin‘ at her.
write or name the letters that comprise the accepted form of
“I have a Ewell here, but I don’t have a
first name… would you spell your first name for me?”
a room in a private house or establishment where people can sit and talk and relax
She boarded across the street one door down from us in Miss Maudie Atkinson’s
upstairs front room, and when Miss Maudie introduced us to her, Jem was in a
haze for days.
a process in which one substance permeates another
Mr. Braxton Underwood, who had been sitting quietly in a chair reserved for the
Press, soaking up testimony with his sponge of a brain, allowed his bitter eyes to
rove over the colored balcony, and they met mine.
run away
He remembered her clearly, and
sometimes in the middle of a game he would sigh at length, then go off and play
by himself behind the car-house.
having no deviations
Miss Stephanie
Crawford said he was so upright he took the word of God as his only law, and we
believed her, because Mr. Radley’s posture was ramrod straight.
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
I did not miss her, but I think Jem did.
become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
Mr. Radley’s elder son lived
in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we
ever saw enter or leave the place.
This was enough to make Jem march to the corner, where he stopped and leaned
against the light-pole, watching the gate hanging crazily on its homemade hinge.
proceed (with a plan of action)
Dill stopped and let Jem go ahead.
someone who washes things for a living
“But we can’t have communion with you all-”
Apparently deciding that it was easier to define primitive baptistry than closed
communion, Miss Maudie said: “Foot- washers believe anything that’s pleasure is
a sin.
a technical school offering instruction in many industrial arts and applied sciences
The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary
education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through
engineering school at Auburn.
“You can’t,” said Jem. “Sometimes they stretch all the way across the road, but if
you hafta go through one you say, ‘Angel-bright, life-in-death; get off the road,
don’t suck my breath.’
settle into a comfortable sitting position
I sat back down.
an internationally recognized signal sent out by a ship or plane indicating that help is needed
There was a kitchen separate from the rest of the house, tacked onto it by a
wooden catwalk; in the back yard was a rusty bell on a pole, used to summon
field hands or as a distress signal; a widow’s walk was on the roof, but no widows
walked there—from it, Simon oversaw his overseer, watched the river-boats, and
gazed into the lives of surrounding landholders.
a gun dog trained to locate or retrieve birds
Tim was a liver-colored bird dog, the pet
of Maycomb.
While he cleaned and bandaged
my knuckles, he entertained me with a tale about a funny nearsighted old
gentleman who had a cat named Hodge, and who counted all the cracks in the
sidewalk when he went to town.
a band that fits around the neck and is usually folded over
Men’s stiff collars wilted by
nine in the morning.
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
Often as not, Miss Maudie and I
would sit silently on her porch, watching the sky go from yellow to pink as the
sun went down, watching flights of martins sweep low over the neighborhood and
disappear behind the schoolhouse rooftops.
a timber measuring 2 inches by 4 inches in cross section
Instead of a column, a rough two-by-four supported one end of the
roof.
a vertical board or panel forming the head of a bedstead
I pushed the pillow to the headboard and sat up.
I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists
and walked away, “Scout’s a cow—ward!” ringing in my ears.
having a small round head
She was bullet-headed with strange almond-shaped eyes, straight nose, and
an Indian-bow mouth.
silence (someone) by uttering `shush!'
“Reckon they wouldn’t know what it was if she didn’t tell ‘em,” whispered Cecil,
who was immediately shushed.
cause to be quiet or not talk
“I do, I mean it,” he
said, when I told him to shut up.
suggesting the horror of death and decay
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
a failure to show regard for others
He said he was trying to get Miss Maudie’s goat, that he had been
trying unsuccessfully for forty years, that he was the last person in the world Miss
Maudie would think about marrying but the first person she thought about teasing,
and the best defense to her was spirited offense, all of which we understood
clearly.
express gratitude or show appreciation to
“Nome thank you ma’am,” he drawled softly.
a conventional expression of farewell
You don’t want ’em around
you all the time, Dill—”
Dill breathed his patient breath, a half-sigh.
“— good night, Atticus’s gone all day and sometimes half the night and off in the
legislature and I don’t know what—you don’t want ‘em around all the time, Dill,
you couldn’t do anything if they were.”
(law) close questioning of a hostile witness in a court of law to discredit or throw a new light on the testimony already provided in direct examination
Never, never, never, on
cross-examination ask a witness a question you don’t already know the answer to,
was a tenet I absorbed with my baby-food.
sound out
speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way
But there came a day when Atticus told us he’d wear us out if we made any noise
in the yard and commissioned Calpurnia to serve in his absence if she heard a
sound out of us.
“Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong…”
“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for
their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live
with myself.
subject to laughter or ridicule
Lastly, we
were to stay away from that house until we were invited there, we were not to
play an asinine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street
or in this town-
“We weren’t makin‘ fun of him, we weren’t laughin’ at him,” said Jem, “we were
just-”
small puncture (as if made by a pin)
She put
away from her whatever it was that gave her a pinprick of apprehension, and
suggested that I give the family a preview in the livingroom.
a spell of cold weather
When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was
because he had breathed on them.
a knife with a blade that folds into the handle
Judge Taylor looked like most judges I had
ever seen: amiable, white-haired, slightly ruddy-faced, he was a man who ran his
court with an alarming informality—he sometimes propped his feet up, he often
cleaned his fingernails with his pocket knife.
the faculty that enables us to distinguish scents
She looked and smelled like a peppermint drop.
the time after sunrise and before sunset while it is light outside
I was fairly sure Boo Radley was inside that house, but I couldn’t prove it, and
felt it best to keep my mouth shut or I would be accused of believing in Hot
Steams, phenomena I was immune to in the daytime.
without speaking
Often as not, Miss Maudie and I
would sit silently on her porch, watching the sky go from yellow to pink as the
sun went down, watching flights of martins sweep low over the neighborhood and
disappear behind the schoolhouse rooftops.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
I could not put out my hands to stop, they were wedged between my
chest and knees.
depleted of strength or energy
Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.
the act of hearing attentively
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
a timepiece that shows the time of day
The air was so cold and clear we heard the courthouse clock
clank, rattle and strain before it struck the hour.
Francis had requested a pair of knee-pants, a red
leather booksack, five shirts and an untied bow tie.
take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
“Everybody who brings his lunch put it on top of his desk.”
deliver a warrant or summons to someone
We do know in part what Mr. Ewell did: he did what any God-fearing,
persevering, respectable white man would do under the circumstances—he swore
out a warrant, no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robinson now sits
before you, having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses—his right
hand.
a mold lined with cake or crumbs and filled with fruit or whipped cream or custard
She carried a tray of charlotte.
at or in the front
I maintain that the Ewells
started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before
that.
a man who is White
“Atticus says cheatin‘ a colored man is ten times worse than cheatin’ a white
man,” I muttered.
made or produced in the home or by yourself
This was enough to make Jem march to the corner, where he stopped and leaned
against the light-pole, watching the gate hanging crazily on its homemade hinge.
a canine domesticated by man since prehistoric times
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
a logical motive for a belief or action
The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where
boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and
decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no disgrace.
advanced in years; (`aged' is pronounced as two syllables)
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
Tell
a Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer; according to legend an Austrian governor compelled him to shoot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow (which he did successfully without mishap)
“ Tell it to us,” he said.
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
I had spent most of the day climbing up and down, running
errands for him, providing him with literature, nourishment and water, and was
carrying him blankets for the night when Atticus said if I paid no attention to him,
Jem would come down.
catch up with and possibly overtake
When Walter caught up with us, Jem made pleasant conversation with him.
great in quantity or degree or extent
They persisted in
pleading Not Guilty to first-degree murder, so there was nothing much Atticus
could do for his clients except be present at their departure, an occasion that was
probably the beginning of my father’s profound distaste for the practice of
criminal law.
disregarding the rules
He was a real mean one… below the belt… you ain’t called on to teach folks
like that… them ain’t Maycomb’s ways, Miss Caroline, not really… now don’t
you fret, ma’am.
change from a crossed to an uncrossed position
Mr. Tate uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.
Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to
do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the- son-of-a-bitch-had-itcoming-
to-him was a good enough defense for anybody.
a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
The moment she was out of sight
Francis came out head up and grinning.
structure consisting of a sloping way down to the water from the place where ships are built or repaired
The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another
thing alien to Maycomb’s ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather
only.
a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
He covered the courthouse and jailhouse news simply by looking out his
upstairs window.
pass time in a specific way
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
a woman's close-fitting foundation garment
Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting: ladies wore
corsets, men wore coats, children wore shoes.
the latter part of the day
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
covered with or consisting of an oxide coating
His neck was dark
gray, the backs of his hands were rusty, and his fingernails were black deep into
the quick.
How would we like it if Atticus barged in on us without knocking, when we were
in our rooms at night?
located or moved above the surround or above the normal position
Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food: his eyes, as blue as Dill
Harris’s, were red-rimmed and watery.
in a disgusting manner or to a disgusting degree
In obedience to my father, there followed what I later realized was a sickeningly
comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers.
an exchange of ideas via conversation
“Wasn’t talking about your father,” she said.
take and lift upward
Miss Caroline picked up
her ruler, gave me half a dozen quick little pats, then told me to stand in the
corner.
the manner in which something is expressed in words
Jem and I were accustomed to our father’s last-will-and-testament diction, and we
were at all times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our
understanding.
a blow from a flat object (as an open hand)
Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his
palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful.
an automotive vehicle suitable for hauling
The old fire truck, killed by the cold, was being pushed from town
by a crowd of men.
a tower with a large clock visible high up on an outside face
From the other side, however, Greek revival columns clashed with a big
nineteenth-century clock tower housing a rusty unreliable instrument, a view
indicating a people determined to preserve every physical scrap of the past.
a lamp that provides light for reading
Dill and Jem were quiet; when I turned off my reading lamp there
was no strip of light under the door to Jem’s room.
squeeze tightly in your arms, usually with fondness
The more we told Dill about the Radleys, the more he wanted to know, the longer
he would stand hugging the light-pole on the corner, the more he would wonder.
turn on a pivot
Atticus would flee to his office directly after dinner, where
if we sometimes looked in on him, we would find him sitting back in his swivel
chair reading.
founder of Christian Science in 1866 (1821-1910)
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
a match between tennis players
Through the door I could see Jem on the
sofa with a football magazine in front of his face, his head turning as if its pages
contained a live tennis match.
“…you’ve got to do something about her,” Aunty was saying.
parceled out
given out in portions
Jem parceled out our roles: I was Mrs. Radley, and all I had to do was come out
and sweep the porch.
with considerable certainty; without much doubt
They persisted in
pleading Not Guilty to first-degree murder, so there was nothing much Atticus
could do for his clients except be present at their departure, an occasion that was
probably the beginning of my father’s profound distaste for the practice of
criminal law.
cause to be confused emotionally
“Atticus, I don’t know, sir… I—”
I turned to Jem for an answer, but Jem was even more bewildered than I. He said
he didn’t know how it got there, we did exactly as Atticus had told us, we stood
down by the Radley gate away from everybody, we didn’t move an inch—Jem
stopped.
an untroubled state that is free from disturbances
When in tranquility, her grammar was as good as anybody’s in Maycomb.
having finished or arrived at completion
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
take a brief look at
Jem glanced at me, his eyes twinkling: “Mr. Avery’s
sort of shaped like a snowman, ain’t he?”
Mr. Avery averaged a stick of stovewood per week; he honed it down to a
toothpick and chewed it.
one who is absent from school without permission
The truant lady gets ’em here
‘cause she threatens ’em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin‘ to hold ’em.
discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner
“I don’t know how he done it, but he done it—I said it all
happened so fast I—”
“Now let’s consider this calmly—” began Atticus, but Mr. Gilmer interrupted
with an objection: he was not irrelevant or immaterial, but Atticus was
browbeating the witness.
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
People moved slowly then.
a dark shape created by an object blocking a source of light
When Miss Caroline threatened it with a similar fate the first grade exploded
again, becoming cold sober only when the shadow of Miss Blount fell over them.
be engaged in a contest or struggle
We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist- fight, so we consulted
Atticus.
take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
refrain from entering or walking onto
It stayed off, and I
breathed again.
She was bullet-headed with strange almond-shaped eyes, straight nose, and
an Indian-bow mouth.
a loose-fitting protective garment that is worn over other clothing
She was a
widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and
men’s coveralls, but after her five o’clock bath she would appear on the porch and
reign over the street in magisterial beauty.
unacceptable behavior
Jem had probably stood as much guff
about Atticus lawing for niggers as had I, and I took it for granted that he kept his
temper—he had a naturally tranquil disposition and a slow fuse.
having a high or higher than desirable temperature
Plucking an occasional camellia,
getting a squirt of hot milk from Miss Maudie Atkinson’s cow on a summer day,
helping ourselves to someone’s scuppernongs was part of our ethical culture, but
money was different.
a period of indeterminate length marked by some action
“That’s okay, ma’am, you’ll get to know all the county folks after a while.
This was a group of white-shirted, khaki- trousered, suspendered old men
who had spent their lives doing nothing and passed their twilight days doing same
on pine benches under the live oaks on the square.
an impression that something might be the case
Jem gulped like a goldfish, hunched his shoulders and twitched his torso.
any of various alternatives; some other
The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another
thing alien to Maycomb’s ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather
only.
hanging down (as from exhaustion or weakness)
The old house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we
thought we saw an inside shutter move.
quantifier meaning the greatest in number
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
perform an act, usually with a negative connotation
You’ve perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard.
any of various salads having chopped potatoes as the base
Calpurnia poured milk, dished out potato salad and ham, muttering, “‘shamed of
yourselves,” in varying degrees of intensity.
ribbonlike flatworms that are parasitic in the intestines of humans and other vertebrates
His appetite
was appalling, and he told me so many times to stop pestering him I consulted
Atticus: “Reckon he’s got a tapeworm?”
a street intersecting a main street and terminating there
We left the corner, crossed the side street that ran in front of the Radley house,
and stopped at the gate.
any of various evangelical Protestant churches that believe in the baptism of voluntary believers
The Methodists were trying to pay off their church mortgage, and had
challenged the Baptists to a game of touch football.
a door that swings on a double hinge
Calpurnia sent me through the swinging door to the diningroom with a stinging
smack.
rimmed with red
Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food: his eyes, as blue as Dill
Harris’s, were red-rimmed and watery.
in some unspecified way or manner
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
of a very early stage in development
According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his
teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an
enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and
they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb.
an area that is approximately central within some larger region
He was middle-aged then, she was fifteen years his junior.
enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal
He had a pink face
and a big stomach below his belt.
wedged or packed in together
I could not put out my hands to stop, they were wedged between my
chest and knees.
a bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
free from harm or penalty
Funny thing, Atticus Finch might’ve got him off scot free, but wait—?
battles in World War II in the Pacific
“ Makin‘ fun of him?”
overly sweet
Why she frowned when a child
recited from The Grit Paper I never knew, but in some way it was associated with
liking fiddling, eating syrupy biscuits for lunch, being a holy-roller, singing
Sweetly Sings the Donkey and pronouncing it dunkey, all of which the state paid
teachers to discourage.
prevent from being included or considered or accepted
The place was self-sufficient:
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
deliver a quick blow to
Dill punched my shoulder, and we lowered him to the ground.
a town in extreme northwest Florida
Mr. Radley’s elder son lived
in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we
ever saw enter or leave the place.
the handle of a broom
The varmints had a lean time of it, for the Ewells gave the dump a thorough
gleaning every day, and the fruits of their industry (those that were not eaten)
made the plot of ground around the cabin look like the playhouse of an insane
child: what passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts,
all tipped with rusty hammer-heads, snaggle-toothed rake heads, shovels, axes
and grubbing hoes, held on with pieces of barbed wire.
a lace used for fastening shoes
Now that I was compelled to think about
it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of
my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of
shoelaces.
the action of taking part in a game or sport or other recreation
I was tired of playing Tom Rover, who suddenly lost
his memory in the middle of a picture show and was out of the script until the
end, when he was found in Alaska.
a Protestant denomination founded on the principles of John Wesley and Charles Wesley
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
a beverage made from cocoa powder and milk and sugar
“Anybody want some hot chocolate?” he asked.
any of numerous plants of the family Geraniaceae
Against the fence, in a
line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for
as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudie
deigned to permit a geranium on her premises.
fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters
From somewhere near by came scuffling, kicking sounds, sounds of shoes and
flesh scraping dirt and roots.
closely constrained or constricted or constricting
“Why do you think Miss Rachel locks up so tight at
night?
(law) tacit approval of someone's wrongdoing
Jem went in grinning, and Calpurnia nodded tacit consent to having Dill in to
supper.
release (a liquid) in drops or small quantities
Microscopic grains oozed out.
a long narrow box for growing plants on a windowsill
Uncle Jack Finch confined his passion for digging
to his window boxes in Nashville and stayed rich.
a mixed drink containing champagne and orange juice
“Do you smell my mimosa?
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
She
was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as
well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t
ready to come.
move forward, also in the metaphorical sense
“Well go on,” said Dill, “Scout and me’s right behind you.”
move forward or upward in order to touch
By the time we reached our front steps Walter had forgotten he was a
Cunningham.
cause to twist together or be caught in a snarled mass
After consulting a tree to ascertain from its lichen which way
was south, and taking no lip from the subordinates who ventured to correct him,
Colonel Maycomb set out on a purposeful journey to rout the enemy and
entangled his troops so far northwest in the forest primeval that they were
eventually rescued by settlers moving inland.
live so as to annul some previous behavior
Local opinion held Mr. Underwood to be an intense, profane little man, whose
father in a fey fit of humor christened Braxton Bragg, a name Mr. Underwood had
done his best to live down.
to come or go into
It was the kind of box wedding
rings came in, purple velvet with a minute catch.
move out of or depart from
People said he went out at night when the moon was down,
and peeped in windows.
a motor vehicle with four wheels
He remembered her clearly, and
sometimes in the middle of a game he would sigh at length, then go off and play
by himself behind the car-house.
infections of the skin or nails caused by fungi and appearing as itching circular patches
I went so far as to pay a nickel for the
privilege of rubbing my head against the head of Miss Rachel’s cook’s son, who
was afflicted with a tremendous ringworm.
become flared and widen, usually at one end
She was not fat, but solid, and she chose
protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her
waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra’s was once
an hour-glass figure.
the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring
“I’m trying to tell you the facts of
life.”
of or pertaining to arthritis
“And you—” she pointed an
arthritic finger at me—“what are you doing in those overalls?
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
If he held his mouth right, Mr.
Cunningham could get a WPA job, but his land would go to ruin if he left it, and
he was willing to go hungry to keep his land and vote as he pleased.
a horizontal bar (usually of wood or metal)
He swung his legs over the
railing and was sliding down a pillar when he slipped.
slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
Charles Lamb
lacking the behavior or manner or style considered proper for a lady
“You’ll have a very
unladylike scar on your wedding-ring finger.”
precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
the emotion of intense dislike
I returned to school and hated Calpurnia steadily until a sudden shriek shattered
my resentments.
a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets
When it was time to play Boo’s big scene, Jem would sneak into the house, steal
the scissors from the sewing-machine drawer when Calpurnia’s back was turned,
then sit in the swing and cut up newspapers.
the door of a car
His car door
a buttress that stands apart from the main structure and connected to it by an arch
Starkly out of place in a town of square-faced
stores and steep-roofed houses, the Maycomb jail was a miniature Gothic joke
one cell wide and two cells high, complete with tiny battlements and flying
buttresses.
the trait of being neat and orderly
She owned a bright green square Buick and a black chauffeur, both kept in
an unhealthy state of tidiness, but today they were nowhere to be seen.
a prolonged period of time
Before Jem went to his room, he looked for a long time at the Radley Place.
the bank of a river
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
an accidental collision that is narrowly avoided
Jem, who hadn’t been near Miss Maudie’s scuppernong arbor since last summer,
and who knew Miss Maudie wouldn’t tell Atticus if he had, issued a general
denial.
get involved in or with
Rather than risk a tangle with Calpurnia, I did as Jem told me.
Miss Stephanie said old Mr. Radley said no Radley was going to any asylum,
when it was suggested that a season in Tuscaloosa might be helpful to Boo. Boo
wasn’t crazy, he was high-strung at times.
at the end of each day
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
From time to time she would open her mouth wide, and I could see her
tongue undulate faintly.
failure to attend (especially school)
“Playing hooky, I
an edge tool having two crossed pivoting blades
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
in a manner displaying affirmation or certainty
One evening we were privileged
to witness a performance by him which seemed to have been his positively last,
for he never did it again so long as we watched.
an impact (as from a collision)
I could only hope that Jem would outrun the tire and me, or that I
would be stopped by a bump in the sidewalk.
go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
He returned to Saint Stephens only once, to find
a wife, and with her established a line that ran high to daughters.
children popped-the- whip through the crowd, and babies lunched at their mothers’
breasts.
the part of the leg between the hip and the knee
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
of a light shade of red
She had bright auburn hair, pink
cheeks, and wore crimson fingernail polish.
in spite of everything; without regard to drawbacks
He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folks said he did.
the act of waiting
Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his
palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful.
She was all angles and bones; she was
nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.
a piece of furniture with a writing surface and usually drawers or other compartments
“Everybody who brings his lunch put it on top of his desk.”
having eyes half closed in order to see better
We had gone about five hundred yards beyond
the Radley Place when I noticed Jem squinting at something down the street.
a coarse loosely woven cotton gauze
Its
windows were merely open spaces in the walls, which in the summertime were
covered with greasy strips of cheesecloth to keep out the varmints that feasted on
Maycomb’s refuse.
lacking in tone or expression
Jem was talking in an unhurried, flat
toneless voice.
unlike in nature, quality, form, or degree
I don’t want you hollerin‘ something different the minute I
get back.”
make a hole into or between, as for ease of separation
“I wondered why he had those marks on him, His
sleeves were perforated with little holes.
move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound
He flung open the gate, danced
Dill and me through, and shooed us between two rows of swishing collards.
a very small spot
Tim
Johnson was not much more than a speck in the distance, but he was closer to us.
a rugged box (usually made of wood); used for shipping
With Christmas came a
“If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that’s his own business,
like Grandma says, so it ain’t your fault.
a shop where hairdressers and beauticians work
“Yes sir, Mrs. Perkins, that J. Grimes Everett is a martyred saint, he… needed to
get married so they ran… to the beauty parlor every Saturday afternoon… soon as
the sun goes down.
have the will and intention to carry out some action
That
Stephanie’s been after my recipe for thirty years, and if she thinks I’ll give it to
her just because I’m staying with her she’s got another think coming.”
having been got the better of
I licked it and waited
for a while.
get something; come into possession of
The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary
education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through
engineering school at Auburn.
aroused to impatience or anger
Calpurnia looked peeved, but Atticus
looked exhausted.
not artificially colored or bleached
An oppressive odor met us when we crossed the threshold, an odor I had met
many times in rain-rotted gray houses where there are coal-oil lamps, water
dippers, and unbleached domestic sheets.
the property of an attractively thin person
His
was Simon Finch, a fur-trapping apothecary from Cornwall whose piety was
exceeded only by his stinginess.
withdraw from an organization or polity
(When Alabama seceded from the Union
on January 11, 1861, Winston County seceded from Alabama, and every child in
Maycomb County knew it.)
of grain that has been converted into malt
By the time Mrs. Cat called the drugstore for
an order of chocolate malted mice the class was wriggling like a bucketful of
catawba worms.
a sculpture of the head and shoulders of a person
“I said come here, nigger, and bust up this chiffarobe for me, I gotta nickel for
you.
make physical contact with, come in contact with
Now lemme think… reckon we can rock him…”
Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: “I won’t say you
ran out on a dare an‘ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the
house.”
struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
“Then I’m goin‘ with you
—” I choked.
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
It was clear enough to the rest of
us: Walter Cunningham was sitting there lying his head off.
baked good based on a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, and fat
She made the best cakes in the neighborhood.
collide violently with an obstacle
We had slowed to a cautious gait, and were feeling our way forward so as not to
bump into the tree.
cut with or as if with scissors
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
to come or go into
“Let’s go in the front yard.”
the covering in which something is wrapped
That keeps ‘em from wrapping around you-”
“Don’t you believe a word he says, Dill,” I said.
in an impressively expansive manner
“Been comin‘ to the first day o’ the first
grade fer three year now,” he said expansively.
sweetened beverage of diluted lemon juice
Calpurnia appeared in the front door and yelled, “ Lemonade time!
run very fast, usually for a short distance
Jem and Walter returned to school ahead of me: staying behind to advise Atticus
of Calpurnia’s iniquities was worth a solitary sprint past the Radley Place.
ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make cages or fences etc
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
make plain and comprehensible
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
Little Chuck’s face contracted and he said
gently, “You mean him, ma’am?
physically move while supporting, by vehicle, hands, or body
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
the decisive battle in which William the Conqueror (duke of Normandy) defeated the Saxons under Harold II (1066) and thus left England open for the Norman Conquest
Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to some members of the family that
we had no recorded ancestors on either side of the Battle of Hastings.
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the
elbow.
a soft greasy substance occurring in organic tissue
There he would stand, his arm
around the fat pole, staring and wondering.
an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
Wooden sawhorses blocked the road at each end of the
Radley lot, straw was put down on the sidewalk, traffic was diverted to the back
street.
the range of skills in a particular field or occupation
But by the end of August our repertoire was vapid from countless reproductions,
and it was then that Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.
a facial expression with the corners of the mouth turned up
Atticus ain’t got time to teach me anything,” I added, when Miss Caroline smiled
and shook her head.
knock
deliver a sharp blow or push :"He knocked the glass clear across the room"
Jem said if Dill wanted to get himself killed, all he had to do was go up and knock
on the front door.
a mountain in the central Himalayas on the border of Tibet and Nepal; the highest mountain peak in the world (29,028 feet high)
Had I ever harbored the mystical
notions about mountains that seem to obsess lawyers and judges, Aunt Alexandra
would have been analogous to Mount Everest: throughout my early life, she was
cold and there.
a hand tool for holding consisting of a compound lever for grasping
I
interrupted to make Uncle Jack let me know when he would pull it out, but he
held up a bloody splinter in a pair of tweezers and said he yanked it while I was
laughing, that was what was known as relativity.
Miss Maudie’s old crispness was returning:
“The handful of people in this town with background, that’s who they are.”
not in a state of sleep; completely conscious
Next morning I awoke, looked out the window and nearly died of fright.
snacks and drinks served as a light meal
Her Missionary Society refreshments
added to her reputation as a hostess (she did not permit Calpurnia to make the
delicacies required to sustain the Society through long reports on Rice Christians);
she joined and became Secretary of the Maycomb Amanuensis Club.
data relating to births and deaths and health and diseases and marriages
Jem’s mind was occupied mostly with the vital statistics of every college football
player in the nation.
go up
move upward
Jem said if Dill wanted to get himself killed, all he had to do was go up and knock
on the front door.
the quality of having significance vis-a-vis something else
I
interrupted to make Uncle Jack let me know when he would pull it out, but he
held up a bloody splinter in a pair of tweezers and said he yanked it while I was
laughing, that was what was known as relativity.
get or find back; recover the use of
I retrieved my plate and finished dinner in the kitchen, thankful, though,
that I was spared the humiliation of facing them again.
a small mass of soft material
When Jem came home he asked me where I got such a wad.
protect against a challenge or attack
What happens in houses behind closed
doors, what secrets-”
“Atticus don’t ever do anything to Jem and me in the house that he don’t do in the
yard,” I said, feeling it my duty to defend my parent.
touch with the lips or press the lips (against someone's mouth or other body part) as an expression of love, greeting, etc.
Calpurnia bent down and kissed me.
social structure in which classes are determined by heredity
There was indeed a caste system in Maycomb, but to my mind it worked this way:
the older citizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for
years and years, were utterly predictable to one another: they took for granted
attitudes, character shadings, even gestures, as having been repeated in each
generation and refined by time.
understand, usually after some initial difficulty
Whoever
it was wore thick cotton pants; what I thought were trees rustling was the soft
swish of cotton on cotton, wheek, wheek, with every step.
a reflex that closes and opens the eyes rapidly
Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in
the afternoon sun.
sullen or unfriendly in appearance
Jem was scowling triumphantly.
red gum tree of Tasmania
She looked and smelled like a peppermint drop.
a more or less definite period of time now or previously present
She gave the money to Dill, who went to the picture show
twenty times on it.
at, to, or toward the place where you reside
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
a natural and periodic state of rest
Summer was our
best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep
in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a
parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.
the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb
His left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.
The back of the Radley house was less inviting than the front: a ramshackle porch
ran the width of the house; there were two doors and two dark windows between
the doors.
having a low or inadequate temperature
When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was
because he had breathed on them.
think of
devise or invent
Jem wanted Dill to know once and for all that he wasn’t scared of anything: “It’s
just that I can’t think of a way to make him come out without him gettin‘ us.”
seed of cotton plants; source of cottonseed oil
I liked his smell: it was of leather, horses,
cottonseed.
a throne that is the official chair of a bishop
I remembered something he had
said about Judge Taylor’s ex cathedra remarks sometimes exceeding his duty, but
that few lawyers ever did anything about them.
being or resembling melting snow
“You’ll see,” said Jem, and we transferred as much snow as we could from Miss
Maudie’s yard to ours, a slushy operation.
a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
to consider or examine in speech or writing
“Wasn’t talking about your father,” she said.
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and three
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven- thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
education beyond the elementary grades
The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary
education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through
engineering school at Auburn.
revert back to bad behavior after a period of good behavior
Atticus seemed to have
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
a mechanical device that is curved or bent to suspend or hold or pull something
He fingered the straps of his overalls,
nervously picking at the metal hooks.
made smooth by e.g. ice or grease
See how they’ve been slicked up?
induce a state that resembles sleep in
With one phrase he had turned happy picknickers
into a sulky, tense, murmuring crowd, being slowly hypnotized by gavel taps
lessening in intensity until the only sound in the courtroom was a dim pink-pinkpink:
the judge might have been rapping the bench with a pencil.
land that is covered with trees and shrubs
As a result the
town remained the same size for a hundred years, an island in a patchwork sea of
cottonfields and timberland.
an excessive feeling of self-satisfaction
Smugness faded from it, replaced by a dogged
earnestness that fooled Judge Taylor not at all: as long as Mr. Ewell was on the
stand, the judge kept his eyes on him, as if daring him to make a false move.
come upon or take unawares
We looked at her in surprise, for
Calpurnia rarely commented on the ways of white people.
a little bit at a time
Bit by bit, I told him the day’s misfortunes. “-and she said you taught me all
wrong, so we can’t ever read any more, ever.
a garment tied about the waist and worn to protect clothing
Atticus suggested that Jem hone down his creation’s front a little, swap a broom
for the stovewood, and put an apron on him.
a small injury that results in discoloration
There was already bruises comin‘ on her
arms, and it happened about thirty minutes before—”
“How do you know?”
having undesirable or negative qualities
“Atticus, that’s bad,” I said.
A storm of laughter broke loose when it finally occurred to the class that
Miss Caroline had whipped me.
a written account of what transpired at a meeting
Jem’s free dispensation of my pledge
irked me, but precious noontime minutes were ticking away.
an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water
When Uncle Jack caught
me, he kept me laughing about a preacher who hated going to church so much
that every day he stood at his gate in his dressing-gown, smoking a hookah and
delivering five-minute sermons to any passers-by who desired spiritual comfort.
a unit of language that native speakers can identify
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
determine the place of by searching or examining
He searched the scalp above his forehead, located his guest and
pinched it between his thumb and forefinger.
an inclination to withhold approval from some person or group
Are you going to take
out your disapproval on his children?”
lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other
“Can’t see what witness’s literacy
has to do with the case, irrelevant’n‘ immaterial.”
tasting or smelling richly of or as of fruit
One Sunday night, lost in fruity metaphors and florid diction, Judge Taylor’s
attention was wrenched from the page by an irritating scratching noise.
displeasing to the sense of sight
You might hear some ugly talk about it at
school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep
those fists down.
an object consisting of a number of pages bound together
When Dill reduced Dracula to dust, and Jem said the show sounded better than
the book, I asked Dill where his father was: “You ain’t said anything about him.”
under a moral obligation to someone
“She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody.
a person who loudly advertises a show to attract customers
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object
Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in
the afternoon sun.
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
a city in central England
The Governor was eager to scrape a few
barnacles off the ship of state; there were sit-down strikes in Birmingham; bread
lines in the cities grew longer, people in the country grew poorer.
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur
Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall,
judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch,
that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could
never wash the blood off.
marked by absence of sound
Jem was silent.
extended in duration
Although
her fits had passed off, she was in every other way her old self: when Sir Walter
Scott became involved in lengthy descriptions of moats and castles, Mrs. Dubose
would become bored and pick on us:
“Jeremy Finch, I told you you’d live to regret tearing up my camellias.
move from one country or region to another and settle there
He said the Cunninghams hadn’t taken
anything from or off of anybody since they migrated to the New World.
a tool with a flat blade attached to a long handle
Jem ran to the back yard, produced the garden hoe and began digging quickly
behind the woodpile, placing any worms he found to one side.
a square piece of cloth used for wiping the eyes or nose
Aunt Alexandra ministered to Francis, wiping his tears away with her
handkerchief, rubbing his hair, patting his cheek.
acceptable for a long time
I thought she was going to spit in it, which was the only reason anybody in
Maycomb held out his hand: it was a time-honored method of sealing oral
contracts.
His voice had lost its aridity, its detachment, and he was talking to
the jury as if they were folks on the post office corner.
kind
having a tender and considerate and helpful nature
“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot
better with all kinds of folks.
filling again by supplying what has been used up
And so they went, down the row of laughing women, around the diningroom,
refilling coffee cups, dishing out goodies as though their only regret was the
temporary domestic disaster of losing Calpurnia.
“You’re mighty dressed up, Miss Jean
Louise,” she said, “Where are your britches today?”
that which has mass and occupies space
In this matter we were lucky to have Dill.
to a small degree; somewhat
Miss Caroline walked up and down the rows peering and poking into lunch
containers, nodding if the contents pleased her, frowning a little at others.
(Old Testament) Moses' successor who led the Israelites into the Promised Land; best remembered for his destruction of Jericho
She left the room and returned with a purple-covered book on
which Meditations of Joshua S. St. Clair was stamped in gold.
give a solemn statement in a court of law
We asked Miss Maudie to elucidate: she said Miss Stephanie seemed to know so
much about the case she might as well be called on to testify.
an official written record of names or events
I suppose she chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint
line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First
Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she
discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste.
free from dirt or impurities
He did have on a clean shirt and neatly mended overalls.
as many as a house will accommodate
He had to take it out on
somebody and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there.
a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty
Jem condescended to take me to school the first day, a job usually done by one’s
parents, but Atticus had said Jem would be delighted to show me where my room
was.
devoid of or deficient in light or brightness
Jem said, “He goes out, all right, when it’s pitch dark.
food remaining from a previous meal
Dill made his way through the leftovers and was reaching for a can of pork and
beans in the pantry when Miss Rachel’s Do-oo Je-sus went off in the hall.
remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
Judge Taylor told the reporter to expunge anything he happened to have written
down after Mr. Finch if you were a nigger like me you’d be scared too, and told
the jury to disregard the interruption.
an ancient city in southeastern Iran
Bam, bam, bam, and the checkerboard was swept clean of my men.
Smoke was rolling off our house and Miss Rachel’s house like fog off a
riverbank, and men were pulling hoses toward them.
change from a liquid to a solid when cold
When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was
because he had breathed on them.
a framework in which a picture is mounted
Enclosed by this barricade
was a dirty yard containing the remains of a Model-T Ford (on blocks), a
discarded dentist’s chair, an ancient icebox, plus lesser items: old shoes, worn-out
table radios, picture frames, and fruit jars, under which scrawny orange chickens
pecked hopefully.
a university town in west central Alabama
Miss Stephanie said old Mr. Radley said no Radley was going to any asylum,
when it was suggested that a season in Tuscaloosa might be helpful to Boo. Boo
wasn’t crazy, he was high-strung at times.
a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)
Miss Caroline walked up and down the rows peering and poking into lunch
containers, nodding if the contents pleased her, frowning a little at others.
closer
(comparative of `near' or `close') within a shorter distance
I beat him up twice but it did no good, he only grew closer to Jem. They spent
days together in the treehouse plotting and planning, calling me only when they
needed a third party.
a movable chair mounted on large wheels
She was
very old; she spent most of each day in bed and the rest of it in a wheelchair.
a marking that consists of lines that intersect each other
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
When Aunt Alexandra went to school, self-doubt could not
be found in any textbook, so she knew not its meaning.
lacking clarity, brightness, or loudness
I suppose she chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint
line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First
Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she
discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste.
disturb, especially by minor irritations
I knew I had annoyed Miss Caroline, so I let well enough alone and stared out the
window until recess when Jem cut me from the covey of first-graders in the
schoolyard.
place of business where professional duties are performed
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more
than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
marked with or as if with stripes or linear discolorations
Beneath its sweat- streaked dirt Dill’s face went white.
marked by dejection from being alone
“The house got so lonesome ‘long about two
o’clock I had to turn on the radio.”
weak in color; not colorful
He was a thin leathery man with
colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light.
a hole (in a door or an oven etc) through which you can peep
Mrs. Crenshaw thoughtfully left two peepholes for me.
pass to the other side of
“Nobody’s moved, hardly,” said Jem.
“They moved around some when the jury went out,” said Reverend Sykes.
having the back and shoulders rounded; not erect
Jem gulped like a goldfish, hunched his shoulders and twitched his torso.
in place of, or as an alternative to
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
activity directed toward making or doing something
In England, Simon was irritated by the
persecution of those who called themselves Methodists at the hands of their more
liberal brethren, and as Simon called himself a Methodist, he worked his way
across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, thence to Jamaica, thence to Mobile, and up
the Saint Stephens.
at or in or to the adjacent residence
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
a plant suitable for growing in a flowerpot
I kept a fire in there last
night for my potted plants.
the act of starting something
They persisted in
pleading Not Guilty to first-degree murder, so there was nothing much Atticus
could do for his clients except be present at their departure, an occasion that was
probably the beginning of my father’s profound distaste for the practice of
criminal law.
return in thought or speech to something
Now don’t you be afraid, you just go back to your desk and
teach us some more.”
lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration
There was a smell of stale whiskey and pigpen about, and when I glanced around
I discovered that these men were strangers.
busy or occupied with
Before the first morning was over, Miss Caroline Fisher, our
teacher, hauled me up to the front of the room and patted the palm of my hand
with a ruler, then made me stand in the corner until noon.
a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)
I watched
the quantity contained in a bucket
By the time Mrs. Cat called the drugstore for
an order of chocolate malted mice the class was wriggling like a bucketful of
catawba worms.
go or occur together
Dill and Jem were simply going to peep in the window with the loose shutter to
see if they could get a look at Boo Radley, and if I didn’t want to go with them I
could go straight home and keep my fat flopping mouth shut, that was all.
a sleeveless garment worn underneath a coat
There was nowhere to go, but I turned to go and met Atticus’s vest front.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where
boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and
decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no disgrace.
ride at a gait faster than a walk
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
a beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
So Simon, having forgotten
his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves and
with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some
forty miles above Saint Stephens.
the side of an object that is opposite its front
Jem, somebody was-”
“Yes you will, you’ll watch the back end of the lot and Dill’s gonna watch the
front of the house an‘ up the street, an’ if anybody comes he’ll ring the bell.
a language unit by which a person or thing is known
Atticus had urged them to accept the state’s generosity in allowing them to plead
Guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were
Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.
the solid part of the earth's surface
The Maycomb school
grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall
pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the
children: Radley pecans would kill you.
leave a vehicle, aircraft, etc.
Two days later Dill arrived in a blaze of glory: he had ridden the train by himself
from Meridian to Maycomb Junction (a courtesy title—Maycomb Junction was in
Abbott County) where he had been met by Miss Rachel in Maycomb’s one taxi;
he had eaten dinner in the diner, he had seen two twins hitched together get off
the train in Bay St. Louis and stuck to his story regardless of threats.
a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate
One night, in an excessive spurt of high spirits, the boys backed around the square
in a borrowed flivver, resisted arrest by Maycomb’s ancient beadle, Mr. Conner,
and locked him in the courthouse outhouse.
to utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds
“Ain’t hateful, just persuades him—‘s not like you’d chunk him in the fire,” Jem
growled.
Miss Caroline walked up and down the rows peering and poking into lunch
containers, nodding if the contents pleased her, frowning a little at others.
go along with, often uninvited
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
rub with a circular motion
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
recognizable; marked
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
the part of an organism (human or animal) that connects the head to the rest of the body
His neck was dark
gray, the backs of his hands were rusty, and his fingernails were black deep into
the quick.
in a shy or timid or bashful manner
“It is, ain’t it?” he said shyly.
a female person who has the same parents as another person
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
give money, usually in exchange for goods or services
You can pay me back tomorrow.”
But to climb the Radley front steps
and call, “He-y,” of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did.
having an oblique or slanting direction or position
He was sitting behind his table; his chair was skewed to
one side, his legs were crossed and one arm was resting on the back of his chair.
a large bag (or pair of bags) hung over a saddle
He sent them packing
next day armed with their charts and five quarts of shinny in their saddlebags—
two apiece and one for the Governor.
obstruct access to
When Jem an‘ I fuss
Atticus doesn’t ever just listen to Jem’s side of it, he hears mine too, an’ in the
second place you told me never to use words like that except in ex-extreme
provocation, and Francis provocated me enough to knock his block off—”
Uncle Jack scratched his head.
devoid of intelligence
Lastly, we
were to stay away from that house until we were invited there, we were not to
play an asinine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street
or in this town-
“We weren’t makin‘ fun of him, we weren’t laughin’ at him,” said Jem, “we were
just-”
As he told us the old tale his blue eyes would lighten and
darken; his laugh was sudden and happy; he habitually pulled at a cowlick in the
center of his forehead.
any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
I rose graciously on Walter’s behalf: “Ah—Miss Caroline?”
hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
the body excluding the head and neck and limbs
Jem scooped up an armful of dirt, patted it into a mound on which he added
another load, and another until he had constructed a torso.
drive away by crying `shoo!'
He flung open the gate, danced
Dill and me through, and shooed us between two rows of swishing collards.
depleted of energy, force, or strength
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
the act of picking (crops or fruit or hops etc.)
He fingered the straps of his overalls,
nervously picking at the metal hooks.
the narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips
He looked thoughtfully at it for a moment, then he molded a big stomach
below the figure’s waistline.
correctional institution for the detention and discipline and training of young or first offenders
If you aren’t sent to the
reform school before next week, my name’s not Dubose!”
tolerate or accommodate oneself to
“Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong…”
“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for
their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live
with myself.
the quantity a glass will hold
Jem gulped down his second glassful and slapped his chest.
She was pretty well beat up, but I heaved her to her feet and she
washed her face in a bucket in the corner and said she was all right.
receive punishment; be scolded or reprimanded
One afternoon as I raced by,
something caught my eye and caught it in such a way that I took a deep breath, a
long look around, and went back.
go under, "The raft sank and its occupants drowned"
The neighborhood thought when Mr. Radley went under Boo would come out,
but it had another think coming: Boo’s elder brother returned from Pensacola and
took Mr. Radley’s place.
room for passengers or spectators to stand
The old
bedding that keeps a person warm in bed
I had spent most of the day climbing up and down, running
errands for him, providing him with literature, nourishment and water, and was
carrying him blankets for the night when Atticus said if I paid no attention to him,
Jem would come down.
the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes
The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house.
a pocket on the side of a billiard table
Mr. Tate reached in his side pocket and withdrew a long switchblade knife.
theater light at the front of a stage that illuminate the set and actors
The auditorium
was filling with people; the Maycomb County High School band had assembled
in front below the stage; the stage footlights were on and the red velvet curtain
rippled and billowed from the scurrying going on behind it.
a flexible pipe for conveying a liquid or gas
When the men attached its hose to a hydrant, the hose burst
and water shot up, tinkling down on the pavement.
usually galvanized sheet iron or sheet steel shaped into straight parallel ridges and hollows
The cabin’s plank walls were supplemented with sheets of
corrugated iron, its roof shingled with tin cans hammered flat, so only its general
shape suggested its original design: square, with four tiny rooms opening onto a
shotgun hall, the cabin rested uneasily upon four irregular lumps of limestone.
a small contrasting part of something
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and
I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch.
filled with fear or apprehension
But Dill got him the third day, when he told Jem that folks in Meridian certainly
weren’t as afraid as the folks in Maycomb, that he’d never seen such scary folks
as the ones in Maycomb.
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
During his first five years in Maycomb, Atticus practiced economy more than
anything; for several years thereafter he invested his earnings in his brother’s
education.
a lot
to a very great degree or extent
“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot
better with all kinds of folks.
having the frame made of horn or tortoise shell or plastic that simulates either
Mr. Heck Tate sat looking intently at Boo through his horn-rimmed glasses.
When it comes fall this dries up and the
wind blows it all over Maycomb County!”
of a color similar to that of wood or earth
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
let fall to the ground
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew- Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
a reflex that closes and opens the eyes rapidly
The boy blinked.
the act of causing something to move up and down (or back and forth) with quick movements
Miss Caroline pointed a shaking finger not at the floor nor at a desk, but to a
hulking individual unknown to me.
showing an inclination to disagree
“Ain’t got no mother,” was the answer, “and their paw’s right contentious.”
an assault in which the assailant makes physical contact
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
succeed in a big way; get to the top
Two live oaks stood at the edge of the Radley lot; their roots reached out into the
side-road and made it bumpy.
a major road for any form of motor transport
He had walked ten or eleven of
the fourteen miles to Maycomb, off the highway in the scrub bushes lest the
authorities be seeking him, and had ridden the remainder of the way clinging to
the backboard of a cotton wagon.
a song of praise, especially a religious song
I could not
give one's silent approval to
Before Jem looks at anyone else he
looks at me, and I’ve tried to live so I can look squarely back at him… if I
connived at something like this, frankly I couldn’t meet his eye, and the day I
can’t do that I’ll know I’ve lost him.
a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon
What Jem called
the Dewey Decimal System was school-wide by the end of my first year, so I had
no chance to compare it with other teaching techniques.
of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite
He was a thin leathery man with
colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light.
cause a stinging or tingling sensation
A minute later, nerves still tingling,
Jem and I were on the sidewalk headed for home.
a transparent paperlike product that is impervious to moisture and used to wrap candy or cigarettes etc.
Hey, look—”
Some invisible signal had made the lunchers on the square rise and scatter bits of
newspaper, cellophane, and wrapping paper.
a soft thin absorbent paper for use in toilets
He
declared Egyptians walked that way; I said if they did I didn’t see how they got
anything done, but Jem said they accomplished more than the Americans ever
did, they invented toilet paper and perpetual embalming, and asked where would
we be today if they hadn’t?
change one's position or opinion
“Tell you, Atticus,” Cousin
Ike would say, “the Missouri Compromise was what licked us, but if I had to go
through it agin I’d walk every step of the way there an‘ every step back jist like I
did before an’ furthermore we’d whip ‘em this time… now in 1864, when
Stonewall Jackson came around by—I beg your pardon, young folks.
the act of harassing someone
There are just some kind of men who—who’re so
busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and
you can look down the street and see the results.”
a shelf that projects from a wall above a fireplace
Jem read for perhaps twenty minutes, during which time I looked at the
soot-stained mantelpiece, out the window, anywhere to keep from looking at her.
knowledge on which to base belief
The evidence boils down to you-did—I-didn’t.
structural member consisting of a continuous horizontal timber forming the lowest member of a framework or supporting structure
Think maybe I can make it stick on
the window sill, at least.”
It had been
a placid week: I had minded Aunty; Jem had outgrown the treehouse, but helped
Dill and me construct a new rope ladder for it; Dill had hit upon a foolproof plan
to make Boo Radley come out at no cost to ourselves (place a trail of lemon drops
from the back door to the front yard and he’d follow it, like an ant).
change the arrangement or position of
I raised up on my elbow, facing Dill’s outline.
being at or having a relatively great or specific elevation
He returned to Saint Stephens only once, to find
a wife, and with her established a line that ran high to daughters.
mistake one thing for another
According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his
teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an
enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and
they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb.
overcome or cause to waver or submit by staring
The old house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we
thought we saw an inside shutter move.
inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of
Old Sarum, their stamping grounds, was populated by
two families separate and apart in the beginning, but unfortunately bearing the
same name.
showing effects of much strong drink
The remains
of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard— a “swept” yard that was never
swept— where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.
the seventh and last day of the week
Atticus kept us in fits that evening, gravely reading columns of print about a man
who sat on a flagpole for no discernible reason, which was reason enough for Jem
to spend the following Saturday aloft in the treehouse.
enjoying comforting warmth and shelter in a small space
It was all
a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head
“Now get the basket and haul all the snow you can rake up
from the back yard to the front.
white goods in which food can be stored at low temperatures
Enclosed by this barricade
was a dirty yard containing the remains of a Model-T Ford (on blocks), a
discarded dentist’s chair, an ancient icebox, plus lesser items: old shoes, worn-out
table radios, picture frames, and fruit jars, under which scrawny orange chickens
pecked hopefully.
a ladder with side pieces of rope
It had been
a placid week: I had minded Aunty; Jem had outgrown the treehouse, but helped
Dill and me construct a new rope ladder for it; Dill had hit upon a foolproof plan
to make Boo Radley come out at no cost to ourselves (place a trail of lemon drops
from the back door to the front yard and he’d follow it, like an ant).
resembling a scream in effect
Mrs. Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur was killing them all, but
when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the livingroom, cutting up the
Tribune.
cut with a hacking tool
Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted
and floursack-skirted first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs
from the time they were able to walk, were immune to imaginative literature.
a woman who is White
Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the
subtlety of Tom’s predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman
under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity
to run—a sure sign of guilt.
of an achromatic color intermediate between white and black
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate- gray yard around it.
With one phrase he had turned happy picknickers
into a sulky, tense, murmuring crowd, being slowly hypnotized by gavel taps
lessening in intensity until the only sound in the courtroom was a dim pink-pinkpink:
the judge might have been rapping the bench with a pencil.
a sturdy twilled cloth of a yellowish brown color used especially for military uniforms
A thin man in khaki pants came up the aisle and deposited a coin.
a clear liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth; moistens the mouth and starts the digestion of starches
When she drew it away, it trailed a
long silver thread of saliva.
a large number or amount
Inside, surrounded by wads of damp cotton, was a white,
waxy, perfect camellia.
“Sometimes it’s better to bend
the law a little in special cases.
an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
We leaped over the low wall that separated Miss Rachel’s yard from our
driveway.
rinse one's mouth and throat with a liquid
You go gargle—right now, you hear me?”
someone who helps callers get the person they are calling
Eula May was Maycomb’s leading telephone operator.
yielding readily to pressure or weight
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly
As the year passed, released from school thirty minutes before Jem, who had to
stay until three o’clock, I ran by the Radley Place as fast as I could, not stopping
until I reached the safety of our front porch.
a complex carbohydrate in seeds, fruits, and pith of plants
She had put so much starch
in my dress it came up like a tent when I sat down.
come into existence through birth
She had been with us ever since Jem
was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.
According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his
teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an
enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and
they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb.
any support where you can sit
Maycomb, some twenty miles east of Finch’s Landing, was the county
seat of Maycomb County.
a person who investigates or communicates news stories
“No…” Atticus walked to the court reporter’s desk and bent down to the furiously
scribbling hand.
straight face
a serious facial expression giving no evidence of interest or amusement
All the time Ewell was on the stand I couldn’t dare look at John and keep a
straight face.
in an erratic unpredictable manner
He walked erratically, as if his right legs were shorter than his left legs.
be oriented in a certain direction
She looked across
A network of tiny lines crisscrossed her palms, brown with dirt
and dried blood.
get very angry and fly into a rage
Today she had
antagonized Jem for nearly two hours with no intention of having a fit, and I felt
hopelessly trapped.
the organs in a body, collectively
“These are his innards,” and our hands were thrust into a plate of
cold spaghetti.
beneath the surface of the water
He walked quickly, but I thought he moved like an underwater
swimmer: time had slowed to a nauseating crawl.
really
in actual fact
I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew
Jackson.
He walked to the corner of the lot, then back again, studying the simple terrain as
if deciding how best to effect an entry, frowning and scratching his head.
informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
“Why, Atticus said he went round the bend at the University.
be vigilant, be on the lookout or be careful
“Dill, you watch out, now,” I warned.
kind of
to some (great or small) extent
“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot
better with all kinds of folks.
in a simple manner; without extravagance or embellishment
As the Cunninghams had no money to pay a lawyer, they simply paid us with
what they had.
“Everybody who goes home to lunch hold up your hands,” said Miss Caroline,
breaking into my new grudge against Calpurnia.
moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
Hours of wintertime had found me in the treehouse, looking over at the
schoolyard, spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope Jem
had given me, learning their games, following Jem’s red jacket through wriggling
circles of blind man’s buff, secretly sharing their misfortunes and minor victories.
a room used primarily for sleeping
There were six bedrooms upstairs, four for the eight female children, one for
Welcome Finch, the sole son, and one for visiting relatives.
secret and sly or sordid
“Something furtive,” Aunt Alexandra said.
lacking hair on the face
A balding, smooth-faced man, he could have been
anywhere between forty and sixty.
coming next after the first in position in space or time
Atticus had urged them to accept the state’s generosity in allowing them to plead
Guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were
Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.
draw slowly or heavily
Before the first morning was over, Miss Caroline Fisher, our
teacher, hauled me up to the front of the room and patted the palm of my hand
with a ruler, then made me stand in the corner until noon.
a series of (usually metal) rings or links fitted into one another to make a flexible ligament
Nobody knew what form of intimidation Mr. Radley employed to keep Boo out of
sight, but Jem figured that Mr. Radley kept him chained to the bed most of the
time.
excrete sweat through the pores in the skin
Then he took off his glasses and
wiped them, and we saw another “first”: we had never seen him sweat—he was
one of those men whose faces never perspired, but now it was shining tan.
present or use again, with no or few changes
Jem and I would listen
respectfully to Atticus and Cousin Ike rehash the war.
name the letters that comprise the accepted form of
Miss Caroline
a small storeroom for storing food or beverages
Jem, there’s some wrapping paper in the
pantry, I think.
property consisting of houses and land
Contents - Prev / Next
When we were small, Jem and I confined our activities to the southern
neighborhood, but when I was well into the second grade at school and
tormenting Boo Radley became passe, the business section of Maycomb drew us
frequently up the street past the real property of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose.
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
She was a pretty little thing.
furnishings that make a room or other area ready for occupancy
Boo bit it off one night when he couldn’t find
any cats and squirrels to eat.); she sat in the livingroom and cried most of the
time, while Boo slowly whittled away all the furniture in the house.
one of the digits of the foot
The next day Dill said, “You’re too scared even
to put your big toe in the front yard.”
(formal) in or into that thing or place
“It was sticking in that tree yonder, the one comin‘ from
school.”
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
a roughly cylindrical vessel that is open at the top
Molasses buckets appeared from nowhere, and the ceiling danced with metallic
light.
reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading
When he passed we would look at the ground and say,
“Good morning, sir,” and he would cough in reply.
forest or woodland having a mature or overly mature ecosystem more or less uninfluenced by human activity
She
chanted mournfully about Maycomb County being older than the state, that it was
a part of the Mississippi and Alabama Territories, that the first white man to set
foot in the virgin forests was the Probate Judge’s great-grandfather five times
removed, who was never heard of again.
be shiny, as if wet
Miss Maudie’s old sunhat glistened with snow crystals.
uttered in a shrill scream as of pain or terror
Jem, naturally, was Boo: he went
under the front steps and shrieked and howled from time to time.
work for or be a servant to
“Grandma says all men should learn to cook, that men oughta be careful with
their wives and wait on ‘em when they don’t feel good,” said my cousin.
take up or begin anew
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
a small but indefinite number
Mr. Radley’s elder son lived
in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we
ever saw enter or leave the place.
hit lightly
Before the first morning was over, Miss Caroline Fisher, our
teacher, hauled me up to the front of the room and patted the palm of my hand
with a ruler, then made me stand in the corner until noon.
There went with the house the usual legend about the Yankees: one Finch female,
recently engaged, donned her complete trousseau to save it from raiders in the
neighborhood; she became stuck in the door to the Daughters’ Staircase but was
doused with water and finally pushed through.
having a relatively high resistance to flow
Occasionally it would say, “Pt,” like some viscous
substance coming to a boil.
a physical sensation that you experience
“I’m feeling all right, really.”
meat from a domestic hog or pig
Dill made his way through the leftovers and was reaching for a can of pork and
beans in the pantry when Miss Rachel’s Do-oo Je-sus went off in the hall.
during or for the length of one night
Jem sat from after
breakfast until sunset and would have remained overnight had not Atticus severed
his supply lines.
unable to see distant objects clearly
Instead,
Maycomb grew and sprawled out from its hub, Sinkfield’s Tavern, because
Sinkfield reduced his guests to myopic drunkenness one evening, induced them to
bring forward their maps and charts, lop off a little here, add a bit there, and
adjust the center of the county to meet his requirements.
having six sides or divided into hexagons
My arms were beginning to tingle, and they were red with
small hexagonal marks.
any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Gardenia having large fragrant white or yellow flowers
Mr. Ewell wrote on the back of the envelope and looked up complacently to see
Judge Taylor staring at him as if he were some fragrant gardenia in full bloom on
the witness stand, to see Mr. Gilmer half-sitting, half-standing at his table.
piece of paper
paper used for writing or printing
Dill took a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Jem. The three of us
walked cautiously toward the old house.
an open receptacle for holding or displaying or serving articles or food
She carried a tray of charlotte.
put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive
One or two of the jury looked vaguely like dressed-up
Cunninghams.
the act of running; traveling on foot at a fast pace
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
causing or able to cause nausea
The name Ewell gave me a queasy feeling.
responsible for or chargeable with a reprehensible act
Atticus had urged them to accept the state’s generosity in allowing them to plead
Guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were
Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.
a person related to another or others
She never let a chance escape her to point out the shortcomings of other tribal
groups to the greater glory of our own, a habit that amused Jem rather than
annoyed him: “Aunty better watch how she talks—scratch most folks in
Maycomb and they’re kin to us.”
a metallic conductor that is attached to a high point and leads to the ground; protects the building from destruction by lightning
Lightning rods guarding some graves denoted dead who rested
uneasily; stumps of burned-out candles stood at the heads of infant graves.
an act of joining or adjoining things
Two days later Dill arrived in a blaze of glory: he had ridden the train by himself
from Meridian to Maycomb Junction (a courtesy title—Maycomb Junction was in
Abbott County) where he had been met by Miss Rachel in Maycomb’s one taxi;
he had eaten dinner in the diner, he had seen two twins hitched together get off
the train in Bay St. Louis and stuck to his story regardless of threats.
(ethnic slur) offensive term for Black people
That darky’s wife.
(formal) in or into that thing or place
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
the content of cognition
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
Out there in J. Grimes Everett’s land there’s nothing but
sin and squalor.”
cut the surface of; wear away the surface of
Jem said if we waited until it snowed some
more we could scrape it all up for a snowman.
at half the distance; at the middle
Halfway through the collards I tripped; as I tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered
the neighborhood.
to move about or proceed hurriedly
Below us, heads turned, feet scraped the floor, babies were shifted to shoulders,
and a few children scampered out of the courtroom.
a vehicle carrying many passengers
They did little, but
enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they
hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and
went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling
hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole
whiskey.
a man's tie that ties in a bow
Francis had requested a pair of knee-pants, a red
leather booksack, five shirts and an untied bow tie.
a small piece or quantity of something
Bit by bit, I told him the day’s misfortunes. “-and she said you taught me all
wrong, so we can’t ever read any more, ever.
external-combustion engine in which heat is used to raise steam which either turns a turbine or forces a piston to move up and down in a cylinder
Jem thought he had enough to buy a
miniature steam engine for himself and a twirling baton for me.
a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid
We
ran home, and on the front porch we looked at a small box patchworked with bits
of tinfoil collected from chewing-gum wrappers.
taken unawares and feeling wonder or astonishment
He seemed surprised when he saw most of the back
yard in the front yard, but he said we had done a jim-dandy job.
a small wave on the surface of a liquid
Old Mrs. Radley died that winter, but her death caused hardly a ripple—the
neighborhood seldom saw her, except when she watered her cannas.
hard bonelike structures in the jaws of vertebrates
There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face;
what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most
of the time.
live in the house where one works
Mr. Radley’s elder son lived
in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we
ever saw enter or leave the place.
cause to move back by force or influence
He pushed back my bangs and
looked at me.
having or involving the use of hands
Mr. Tate handed the rifle to Atticus; Jem and I nearly
fainted.
move quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways
I got to my feet, trembling as I thawed.
Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for
doctors and dentists and lawyers.
the principal activity in one's life to earn money
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard
from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked
much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer
was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a
right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm,
mm, mm.”
a line determining the limits of an area
My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk
to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas.
a plant with purple flowers, yellow fruits and a forked root
I so often wondered how she could be
Atticus’s and Uncle Jack’s sister that I revived half-remembered tales of
changelings and mandrake roots that Jem had spun long ago.
cause to feel confident
I reassured him: “Can’t anybody tell what you’re
gonna do lest they live in the house with you, and even I can’t tell sometimes.”
the act of paying attention
No one had noticed him, probably, because Miss Caroline and I had entertained
the class most of the morning.
cloak that is folded or wrapped around a person
That keeps ‘em from wrapping around you-”
“Don’t you believe a word he says, Dill,” I said.
the act of acquiring something
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
the main stem of a tree
I’m gonna put em in my trunk.”
(used of count nouns) every one considered individually
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
be in a state of uncontrolled anger
He’ll
I thought mad dogs foamed at the mouth, galloped, leaped and lunged at throats,
and I thought they did it in August.
a ballroom dance in duple meter; marked by sliding steps
Jem skipped two steps, put his foot on the porch, heaved himself to it, and
teetered a long moment.
move around; move from place to place
After my bout with Cecil Jacobs
when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout
Finch wouldn’t fight any more, her daddy wouldn’t let her.
clean with some chemical process
Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall,
judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch,
that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could
never wash the blood off.
a lamp that burns oil (as kerosine) for light
Along its walls unlighted
deal with (something unpleasant) head on
“Scared of arrest, scared you’d have to face up to what you did?”
any bird having a musical call
He
likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and
children, and Maycomb thought he was trying to write an editorial poetical
enough to be reprinted in The Montgomery Advertiser.
in a grim implacable manner
“That is three-fourths colored folks and one-fourth Stephanie Crawford,” said
Miss Maudie grimly.
examine so as to determine accuracy, quality, or condition
“Do better if you go over it instead of under it,” I said.
the act of defending someone or something against attack
The
Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to
do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the-son-of-a-bitch-had-itcoming-
to-him was a good enough defense for anybody.
activities that are enjoyable or amusing
I never thought it as much fun as Tarzan, and I
played that summer with more than vague anxiety despite Jem’s assurances that
Boo Radley was dead and nothing would get me, with him and Calpurnia there in
the daytime and Atticus home at night.
readily apparent to the mind
I thought I had made things sufficiently clear.
prove negative; show to be false
“There’s
some folks who don’t eat like us,” she whispered fiercely, “but you ain’t called on
to contradict ‘em at the table when they don’t.
a pouch in many birds and some lower animals that resembles a stomach for storage and preliminary maceration of food
Bob Ewell’s got a
kitchen knife in his craw.”
flee; take to one's heels; cut and run
So scat,” he said to me.
of or relating to or based on an impression rather than on facts or reasoning
No comment
seemed to be expected of us, and the class received these impressionistic
revelations in silence.
the main meal of the day served in the evening or at midday
“Come on home to dinner with us, Walter,” he said.
“Why do you think Miss Rachel locks up so tight at
night?
provide with a covering or cause to be covered
At first we saw nothing but a kudzu- covered front porch,
but a closer inspection revealed an arc of water descending from the leaves and
splashing in the yellow circle of the street light, some ten feet from source to
earth, it seemed to us.
move by turning over or rotating
Miss Caroline inspected her roll-book.
lacking in light; not bright or harsh
I was proceeding on the dim theory, aside from the innate
attractiveness of such words, that if Atticus discovered I had picked them up at
school he wouldn’t make me go.
exhale spasmodically, as when an irritant entered one's nose
Besides making change in the collection plate every Sunday, Mr. Avery sat on the
porch every night until nine o’clock and sneezed.
completely sealed so as to prevent gas from moving in or out
“Well, he can make somebody’s will so airtight can’t anybody meddle with it.”
a framework that supports climbing plants
Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her
scuppernongs if we didn’t jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot, terms
so generous we seldom spoke to her, so careful were we to preserve the delicate
balance of our relationship, but Jem and Dill drove me closer to her with their
behavior.
dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten
Jem ran to the kitchen and asked Calpurnia to set an extra plate, we
had company.
not anywhere; in or at or to no place
There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go,
nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries
of Maycomb County.
footwear that covers the whole foot and lower leg
He was long-nosed, wore boots with shiny metal eye-holes, boot pants
and a lumber jacket.
German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945)
When his turn came, he went to the
front of the room and began, “Old Hitler—”
“ Adolf Hitler, Cecil,” said Miss Gates.
be the predecessor of
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
the lowermost portion of a structure below ground level
The sheriff hadn’t the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so
Boo was locked in the courthouse basement.
a speech of violent denunciation
I pulled at his sleeve, and we were followed up the sidewalk by a
philippic on our family’s moral degeneration, the major premise of which was
that half the Finches were in the asylum anyway, but if our mother were living we
would not have come to such a state.
thorny shrub of a small tree having white to scarlet flowers
Miss Stephanie said old Mr. Radley said no Radley was going to any asylum,
when it was suggested that a season in Tuscaloosa might be helpful to Boo. Boo
wasn’t crazy, he was high-strung at times.
an irritating cutaneous sensation that produces a desire to scratch
“Do you itch, Jem?” I asked as politely as I could.
stunned or confused and slow to react
Jem was standing beside Atticus, groggy and tousled.
having leaves or leaves as specified
From her desk she produced a thick volume, leafed through its pages and read for
a moment.
They were sullen-looking, sleepy-eyed men
who seemed unused to late hours.
the washing away of soil by the flow of water
And for goodness’
sake put some of the county back where it belongs, the soil erosion’s bad enough
as it is.”
exercising caution or showing attention
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
floor covering consisting of a piece of thick heavy fabric
He carried my baton in one hand; its filthy yellow tassel trailed on the rug.
to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
I swear, Scout,
Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they
knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood
or marriage to nearly every family in the town.
a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
“I think I’ll be a clown when I get grown,” said Dill.
any year of the Christian era
There is a tendency in
this year of grace, 1935, for certain people to use this phrase out of context, to
satisfy all conditions.
(of pain or sorrow) made easier to bear
We eased in beside Miss Maudie, who looked around.
to cause to separate and go in different directions
It was dim inside, with a damp
coolness slowly dispelled by the gathering congregation.
use up all one's strength and energy and stop working
“You gonna run out on a dare?” asked Dill.
a boot without laces that is worn for riding horses
He wore the only English riding boots I had ever seen.
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
“In a pig’s ear you did, Dill.
a warning signal that is a loud wailing sound
We had no chance to find out: Miss Rachel went off like the town fire siren: “Doo-
o Jee-sus, Dill Harris!
confusion resulting from failure to understand
Wondering what bargain we had made, I turned to the class for an
answer, but the class looked back at me in puzzlement.
a band to tie or buckle around the body
He was a real mean one… below the belt… you ain’t called on to teach folks
like that… them ain’t Maycomb’s ways, Miss Caroline, not really… now don’t
you fret, ma’am.
decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion
Mr. Link Deas eventually
received the impression that Helen was coming to work each morning from the
wrong direction, and dragged the reason out of her.
occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure
“We’ll consider it sealed without the usual formality,” Atticus said, when he saw
me preparing to spit.
(of e.g. fabric design) adorned with patterns
Nobody knew what form of intimidation Mr. Radley employed to keep Boo out of
sight, but Jem figured that Mr. Radley kept him chained to the bed most of the
time.
move the upper body backwards and down
In possession of his court once more, Judge Taylor leaned back in his chair.
a public secondary school usually including grades 9 through 12
It was then my burning ambition
to grow up and twirl with the Maycomb County High School band.
any distinct time period in a sequence of events
Bad language is
a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they’re not
attracting attention with it.
cause to operate by flipping a switch
“The house got so lonesome ‘long about two
o’clock I had to turn on the radio.”
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
believing the worst of human nature and motives
The witnesses for the state, with the exception of
the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to
this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted,
confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the
evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral
beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption
one associates with minds of their caliber.
the time in the evening at which the sun begins to fall below the horizon
Every thing that happens in this town’s out to the
Quarters before sundown.”
grant freedom to; free from confinement
If the judge released Arthur, Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no
further trouble.
in a daze; in a dazed manner
Tim Johnson came into sight, walking dazedly in the inner rim of the curve
parallel to the Radley house.
cut using a diagonal line
A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut
across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked.
not used up
He did a fair job, only one spring and two tiny pieces left over, but the watch
would not run.
a woman's close-fitting foundation garment
“Arthur Radley just stays in the house, that’s all,” said Miss Maudie.
impossible to hear; imperceptible by the ear
Jem’s lips moved, but his, “Yes sir,” was inaudible.
a loose dressing gown for women
Miss Rachel Haverford’s
excuse for a glass of neat whiskey every morning was that she never got over the
fright of finding a rattler coiled in her bedroom closet, on her washing, when she
went to hang up her negligee.
a religious person who goes to church regularly
Judge Taylor was not a Sunday-night
churchgoer: Mrs. Taylor was.
a legal system for assessing and collecting taxes
“Oh, Scout, it’s like reorganizing the tax systems of the counties and things.
participating in or knowledgeable out
How would we like it if Atticus barged in on us without knocking, when we were
in our rooms at night?
It was twenty miles east of Finch’s Landing, awkwardly inland for
such an old town.
lose velocity; move more slowly
Contents - Prev / Next
Chapter 5
My nagging got the better of Jem eventually, as I knew it would, and to my relief
we slowed down the game for a while.
belonging to or on behalf of a specified person
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard
from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked
much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer
was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a
right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm,
mm, mm.”
Mr. Merriweather, a faithful Methodist under duress, apparently saw nothing
personal in singing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch
like me…” It was the general opinion of Maycomb, however, that Mrs.
Merriweather had sobered him up and made a reasonably useful citizen of him.
in a satisfactory or adequate manner
You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody
doesn’t change your ways—a Finch waiting on tables at the O.K. Café—hah!”
having convergent strabismus
As I made my way
home, I felt very old, but when I looked at the tip of my nose I could see fine
misty beads, but looking cross-eyed made me dizzy so I quit.
But the officers of the court, the ones present—Atticus, Mr. Gilmer, Judge Taylor
sound asleep, and Bert, were the only ones whose behavior seemed normal.
a black bow tie worn with a dinner jacket
He was a short, stocky man in a black suit, black tie,
white shirt, and a gold watch-chain that glinted in the light from the frosted
windows.
feeling queasy, as though one is about to vomit
Dizzy and nauseated, I lay on the cement
and shook my head still, pounded my ears to silence, and heard Jem’s voice:
“Scout, get away from there, come on!”
a table at which meals are served
At Christmas dinner, I sat at the little table in the diningroom; Jem and Francis sat
with the adults at the dining table.
make a point of doing something
“Only a week longer, I think,” she said, “just to make sure…”
Jem rose.
to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition
“Why couldn’t I mash him?”
with unconditional and enthusiastic devotion
I could see nothing in Mayella’s expression to justify Atticus’s assumption that he
had secured her wholehearted cooperation.
gather something into small wrinkles or folds
Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the
sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap.
up to the present time
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
be vigilant, be on the lookout or be careful
Next morning I awoke, looked out the window and nearly died of fright.
Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection
unforgivable in Maycomb.
the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
When I appeared in the doorway, Aunty would look as if she regretted her
request; I was usually mud-splashed or covered with sand.
a large number or amount
Why, he can do lots of things.”
ask someone in a friendly way to do something
Lastly, we
were to stay away from that house until we were invited there, we were not to
play an asinine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street
or in this town-
“We weren’t makin‘ fun of him, we weren’t laughin’ at him,” said Jem, “we were
just-”
“No,” said Atticus, “putting his life’s history on display for the edification of the
neighborhood.”
relaxed and leisurely; without hurry or haste
Jem was talking in an unhurried, flat
toneless voice.
fill something that had previously been emptied
And so they went, down the row of laughing women, around the diningroom,
refilling coffee cups, dishing out goodies as though their only regret was the
temporary domestic disaster of losing Calpurnia.
not tired; refreshed as by sleeping or relaxing
Routine
contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin
chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas
based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
a tall staff or pole on which a flag is raised
Atticus kept us in fits that evening, gravely reading columns of print about a man
who sat on a flagpole for no discernible reason, which was reason enough for Jem
to spend the following Saturday aloft in the treehouse.
having two barrels mounted side by side
Mr. Underwood and a double-barreled shotgun were leaning out his window
above The Maycomb Tribune office.
the lower side of anything
Jem held up the bottom wire and motioned Dill under it.
electronic equipment that transmits sound over distances
The telephone rang and Atticus left the breakfast table to answer it.
the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
having or producing a comfortable and agreeable degree of heat or imparting or maintaining heat
The cats had long
conversations with one another, they wore cunning little clothes and lived in a
warm house beneath a kitchen stove.
miss a step and fall or nearly fall
Atticus rose at his usual ungodly hour
and was in the livingroom behind the Mobile Register when we stumbled in.
jump down from an elevated point
Jem had his little sister to think of the
time I dared him to jump off the top of the house: “If I got killed, what’d become
of you?” he asked.
(physics) a movement up and down or back and forth
The Dewey Decimal System consisted, in part, of Miss Caroline waving cards at
us on which were printed “the,” “cat,” “rat,” “man,” and “you.”
someone who jeers or mocks or treats something with contempt or calls out in derision
High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in
blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in, plunging from the shrill kee, kee of
the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of a bluejay, to the sad lament of Poor
Will, Poor Will, Poor Will.
a mercantile establishment for the sale of goods or services
They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of
the stores around it, took their time about everything.
a group of animals (a herd or flock) moving together
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
papa
an informal term for a father
“Reason I can’t pass the first grade, Mr. Finch, is I’ve had to stay out ever‘ spring
an’ help Papa with the choppin‘, but there’s another’n at the house now that’s
field size.”
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude
Any stealthy small crimes committed in
Maycomb were his work.
make a high-pitched, screeching noise
The gate squeaked.
Dill was a villain’s villain: he could get into any character part assigned him, and
appear tall if height was part of the devilry required.
a person who travels through the water by swimming
He walked quickly, but I thought he moved like an underwater
swimmer: time had slowed to a nauseating crawl.
the solid part of the earth's surface
It was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon’s homestead,
Finch’s Landing, and make their living from cotton.
posing no difficulty; requiring little effort
It was not often that she made crackling bread, she said she never had time, but
with both of us at school today had been an easy one for her.
containing an unusual amount of grease or oil
Greasy-faced
children popped-the-whip through the crowd, and babies lunched at their mothers’
breasts.
water at boiling temperature diffused in the atmosphere
I mean it, now-”
a tasteless colorless powder used medicinally as a cathartic
Perhaps she had given him
a dose of calomel.
a unit of length equal to one-twelfth of a foot
As for me, I knew nothing except what I gathered from Time
magazine and reading everything I could lay hands on at home, but as I inched
sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County school system, I could not
help receiving the impression that I was being cheated out of something.
an arrangement of objects or people side by side in a line
Miss Caroline walked up and down the rows peering and poking into lunch
containers, nodding if the contents pleased her, frowning a little at others.
Jem would reappear as needed in the shapes of the sheriff,
assorted townsfolk, and Miss Stephanie Crawford, who had more to say about the
Radleys than anybody in Maycomb.
the collection of rules imposed by authority
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
serving to support or corroborate
Tom Robinson was toying with them.
“…absence of any corroborative evidence, this man was indicted on a capital
charge and is now on trial for his life…”
I punched Jem. “How long’s he been at it?”
United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school (1860-1925)
“Look at all those folks—you’d think William Jennings Bryan was
speakin‘.”
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
the time of day immediately following sunset
But I kept aloof from their more foolhardy schemes for a
while, and on pain of being called a girl, I spent most of the remaining twilights
that summer sitting with Miss Maudie Atkinson on her front porch.
disentangle
“Gracious child, I was raveling a thread, wasn’t even thinking about your father,
but now that I am I’ll say this: Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on
the public streets.
someone whose business is advertising
We were surprised one morning to see a cartoon in the Montgomery Advertiser
above the caption, “Maycomb’s Finch.”
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog
suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in
the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
not burdened with difficulties or responsibilities
As he lived in Mobile, he could
not inform on me to school authorities, but he managed to tell everything he knew
to Aunt Alexandra, who in turn unburdened herself to Atticus, who either forgot it
or gave me hell, whichever struck his fancy.
(used informally) completely unclothed
He never loosened a scrap of his clothing
until he undressed at bedtime, and to Jem and me, this was the equivalent of him
standing before us stark naked.
catch for fastening a door or gate
He came up the back steps, latched the door behind him, and
sat on his cot.
a simple weapon consisting of a looped strap in which a projectile is whirled and then released
“Well, it was all slung about, like there was a fight.”
the southern army during the American Civil War
For the life of me, I did not understand how he could sit there in cold
blood and read a newspaper when his only son stood an excellent chance of being
murdered with a Confederate Army relic.
a war between the United States and Spain in 1898
Backstage, Cecil and I found the narrow hallway teeming with people: adults in
homemade three-corner hats, Confederate caps, Spanish-American War hats, and
World War helmets.
having the consistency of a soft or soggy mass
I looked back at my mushy footprints.
an album into which clippings or notes or pictures can be pasted
According to Miss
Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the livingroom cutting some items from The
Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook.
easing the severity of a pain without removing the cause
She was a less than satisfactory source of
palliation, but she did give Jem a hot biscuit-and-butter which he tore in half and
shared with me.
the act of delaying something until a future time
John Taylor was kind enough to give us a postponement…”
“If you shouldn’t be defendin‘ him, then why are you doin’ it?”
I retrieved my plate and finished dinner in the kitchen, thankful, though,
that I was spared the humiliation of facing them again.
an ornamental coating to a building
I retrieved my plate and finished dinner in the kitchen, thankful, though,
that I was spared the humiliation of facing them again.
not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
device for making or breaking the connections in a circuit
Jem procured some peachtree switches from the back yard, plaited them, and bent
them into bones to be covered with dirt.
Starkly out of place in a town of square-faced
stores and steep-roofed houses, the Maycomb jail was a miniature Gothic joke
one cell wide and two cells high, complete with tiny battlements and flying
buttresses.
a facial expression of dislike or displeasure
He walked to the corner of the lot, then back again, studying the simple terrain as
if deciding how best to effect an entry, frowning and scratching his head.
given incentive for action
Tim Johnson was advancing at a snail’s pace, but he was not playing or sniffing at
foliage: he seemed dedicated to one course and motivated by an invisible force
that was inching him toward us.
We leaped over the low wall that separated Miss Rachel’s yard from our
driveway.
the baggage and equipment carried by an army
There was no sign of piano, organ, hymn-books, church programs—the familiar
ecclesiastical impedimenta we saw every Sunday.
characterized by physical or psychological maltreatment
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they
had no sense of family—I knew that’d distress Aunty—they subjected children to
terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and
earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot
and then got drunk on it.
square deal
fair treatment
The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he
any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments
right into a jury box.
in spite of all obstacles
“I don’t want either of you bearing a
grudge about this thing, no matter what happens.”
the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group
The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s
conscience.”
He stopped in front of
the dog, squatted, turned around and tapped his finger on his forehead above his
left eye.
the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down
I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woolen blanket I was wearing
around my shoulders, squaw-fashion.
a state of abeyance or suspended business
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
farther along in space or time or degree
The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house.
in or to a place that is lower
He was a real mean one… below the belt… you ain’t called on to teach folks
like that… them ain’t Maycomb’s ways, Miss Caroline, not really… now don’t
you fret, ma’am.
create (clothes) with cloth
When it was time to play Boo’s big scene, Jem would sneak into the house, steal
the scissors from the sewing-machine drawer when Calpurnia’s back was turned,
then sit in the swing and cut up newspapers.
the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
allow to remain in a place or position or maintain a property or feature
“No sir,” I murmured, and made a final stand: “But if I keep on goin‘ to school,
we can’t ever read any more…”
“That’s really bothering you, isn’t it?”
to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open
I suppose I should include Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Alexandra’s husband, but as he
never spoke a word to me in my life except to say, “Get off the fence,” once, I
never saw any reason to take notice of him.
the act of making something completely wet
In Maycomb County, it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as
opposed to yearly lavations: Mr. Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight
soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt, his skin appeared to be
sensitive to the elements.
the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861
I picked up a football magazine, found a picture of
Dixie Howell, showed it to Jem and said, “This looks like you.”
pull back or move away or backward
Then it turned and moved back across Jem, walked along
the porch and off the side of the house, returning as it had come.
a victory (as in a race or other competition)
Calpurnia always won,
form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
Before Jem looks at anyone else he
looks at me, and I’ve tried to live so I can look squarely back at him… if I
connived at something like this, frankly I couldn’t meet his eye, and the day I
can’t do that I’ll know I’ve lost him.
under normal conditions
Jem condescended to take me to school the first day, a job usually done by one’s
parents, but Atticus had said Jem would be delighted to show me where my room
was.
kneading and rubbing parts of the body
As they passed under a streetlight, Atticus reached out and
massaged Jem’s hair, his one gesture of affection.
a crime less serious than a felony
In Maycomb County, hunting out of season was a
misdemeanor at law, a capital felony in the eyes of the populace.
copy very carefully and as accurately as possible
She would set me a writing task by scrawling the alphabet firmly across the
top of a tablet, then copying out a chapter of the Bible beneath.
a strike in which workers refuse to leave the workplace until a settlement is reached
The Governor was eager to scrape a few
barnacles off the ship of state; there were sit-down strikes in Birmingham; bread
lines in the cities grew longer, people in the country grew poorer.
having great spatial extension downward or inward
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
the framework that supports a window
The
fire was well into the second floor and had eaten its way to the roof: window
frames were black against a vivid orange center.
a defense of some offensive behavior
“Well, Burris,” said Miss Caroline, “I think we’d better excuse you for the rest of
the afternoon.
unfasten or release from or as if from a hitch
He unhitched his
watch and chain and placed them on the table, saying, “With the court’s
permission—”
Judge Taylor nodded, and then Atticus did something I never saw him do before
or since, in public or in private: he unbuttoned his vest, unbuttoned his collar,
loosened his tie, and took off his coat.
accepting that everything that happens is inevitable
“Don’t you oh well me, sir,” Miss Maudie replied, recognizing Jem’s fatalistic
noises, “you are not old enough to appreciate what I said.”
There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face;
what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most
of the time.
the property created by the space between two objects
When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries
(within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house
two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south.
having a strong distaste from surfeit
He was clearly tired of
being our character man.
a flammable hydrocarbon oil used as fuel in lamps and heaters
When you’ve done that, treat your scalp with kerosene.”
change to an upright sitting position
I pushed the pillow to the headboard and sat up.
go back to something earlier
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
act as the host and receive or introduce one's guests
Jem let me do the honors: I pulled out two small images carved in soap.
get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
“Wonder what he does in there,” he would murmur.
of speech sounds forcing air through a constricted passage
She had a curious habit of
prefacing everything she said with a soft sibilant sound.
deep soft mud in water or slush
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
the form or shape of a person's body
Nobody knew what form of intimidation Mr. Radley employed to keep Boo out of
sight, but Jem figured that Mr. Radley kept him chained to the bed most of the
time.
any of various aquatic and land reptiles having a bony shell and flipper-like limbs for swimming
“Lemme think a minute…
it’s sort of like making a turtle come out…”
“How’s that?” asked Dill.
disappear gradually
If we just let
them know we forgive ‘em, that we’ve forgotten it, then this whole thing’ll blow
over.”
general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War whose troops at the first Battle of Bull Run stood like a stone wall (1824-1863)
“Tell you, Atticus,” Cousin
Ike would say, “the Missouri Compromise was what licked us, but if I had to go
through it agin I’d walk every step of the way there an‘ every step back jist like I
did before an’ furthermore we’d whip ‘em this time… now in 1864, when
Stonewall Jackson came around by—I beg your pardon, young folks.
using the voice; not silently
She wants me to come every afternoon after school and Saturdays and
read to her out loud for two hours.
I licked it and waited
for a while.
restored to consciousness or life or vigor
Apparently she had revived enough to
persevere in her profession.
the tangible substance that goes into a physical object
He died years ago and they stuffed him up the chimney.”
a strong solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide
“A good home remedy for—Burris, I want you to go home and wash
your hair with lye soap.
shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain
He waited until he was sure she was crying, then he shuffled out of the building.
find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort
“You’ll find out.”
a kind of tree-dwelling rodent with a long bushy tail
Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall,
judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch,
that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could
never wash the blood off.
Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed
with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies.
with hands on hips and elbows extending outward
She was now standing arms akimbo, her
shoulders drooping a little, her head cocked to one side, her glasses winking in the
sunlight.
having lost freshness or brilliance of color
For some reason,
my first year of school had wrought a great change in our relationship:
Calpurnia’s tyranny, unfairness, and meddling in my business had faded to gentle
grumblings of general disapproval.
the finger next to the thumb
He searched the scalp above his forehead, located his guest and
pinched it between his thumb and forefinger.
put in a horizontal position
Wooden sawhorses blocked the road at each end of the
Radley lot, straw was put down on the sidewalk, traffic was diverted to the back
street.
the quantity a room will hold
You’ve got a roomful of things.
be prostrate; be in a horizontal position
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
of something done as a final recourse
Mr. Cunningham displayed
no interest in his son, so I tackled his entailment once more in a last-ditch effort to
make him feel at home.
turn up, loosen, or remove earth
Uncle Jack Finch confined his passion for digging
to his window boxes in Nashville and stayed rich.
very suddenly and to a great degree
Jem’s ears reddened from Atticus’s compliment, but he looked up sharply when
he saw Atticus stepping back.
a judgment of not guilty
It was either a straight acquittal or nothing.”
the part of a garment that is attached at the armhole and that provides a cloth covering for the arm
I pulled at his sleeve, and we were followed up the sidewalk by a
philippic on our family’s moral degeneration, the major premise of which was
that half the Finches were in the asylum anyway, but if our mother were living we
would not have come to such a state.
a roll of tobacco for smoking
He permitted smoking in his courtroom
but did not himself indulge: sometimes, if one was lucky, one had the privilege of
watching him put a long dry cigar into his mouth and munch it slowly up.
earlier than the present time; no longer current
At last
the sawhorses were taken away, and we stood watching from the front porch
when Mr. Radley made his final journey past our house.
the act of assuming or maintaining a crouching position with the knees bent and the buttocks near the heels
Somewhere, I had received
the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the
sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that
the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was.
in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal
“You got it backwards, Dill,” said Jem. “Clowns are sad, it’s folks that laugh at
them.”
made of or covered with wax
Inside, surrounded by wads of damp cotton, was a white,
waxy, perfect camellia.
become less clearly visible or distinguishable
The tang was fading, anyway.
the natural satellite of the Earth
In spite of our warnings and explanations it
drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on
the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate.
confused as to time or place or personal identity
A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a
lost ball and no questions asked.
a man raised by apes who was the hero of a series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs
He played the character parts formerly
thrust upon me— the ape in Tarzan, Mr. Crabtree in The Rover Boys, Mr. Damon
in Tom Swift.
move obliquely or sideways, usually in an uncontrolled manner
Less than two weeks later we found a whole package of chewing gum, which we
enjoyed, the fact that everything on the Radley Place was poison having slipped
Jem’s memory.
the quality of having a superior or more favorable position
Burris seemed to be afraid of a child half his height, and Miss Caroline took
advantage of his indecision: “Burris, go home.
continue in a place, position, or situation
It was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon’s homestead,
Finch’s Landing, and make their living from cotton.
having a taste that is a mixture of bitterness and sweetness
The warm bittersweet smell of clean Negro welcomed us as we entered the
churchyard—Hearts of Love hairdressing mingled with asafoetida, snuff, Hoyt’s
Cologne, Brown’s Mule, peppermint, and lilac talcum.
Jem said, “Scout, you can be Mrs. Radley-”
“I declare if I will.
direct carefully and safely
When I was able to navigate, I ran back to them as fast as my shaking knees
would carry me.
cause to stop operating by disengaging a switch
Dill and Jem were quiet; when I turned off my reading lamp there
was no strip of light under the door to Jem’s room.
something that serves as evidence
Mr. Ewell, you will keep your testimony within the confines
of Christian English usage, if that is possible.
a bag made of paper or plastic for holding purchases
Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps.
a formal and solemn declaration of objection
“But he’s gone and drowned his dinner in
syrup,” I protested.
gnaw into; make resentful or angry
Atticus’s remarks were still rankling, which made me miss the request in Jem’s
question.
something solid that can be pushed between two things
I could not put out my hands to stop, they were wedged between my
chest and knees.
a firearm with a long barrel
He declined to let
us take our air rifles to the Landing (I had already begun to think of shooting
Francis) and said if we made one false move he’d take them away from us for
good.
It was an ancient paint- peeled frame
building, the only church in Maycomb with a steeple and bell, called First
Purchase because it was paid for from the first earnings of freed slaves.
having a rim or a rim of a specified kind
Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food: his eyes, as blue as Dill
Harris’s, were red- rimmed and watery.
a woman who has given birth to a child
Our mother died when I was two, so I never felt her absence.
of the distant or comparatively distant past
The house was low,
was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago
darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.
as if squeezed uncomfortably tight
He searched the scalp above his forehead, located his guest and
pinched it between his thumb and forefinger.
As this was his first complete sentence in several days, I encouraged him: “About
what?”
(used of eyes) open and fixed as if in fear or wonder
There he would stand, his arm
around the fat pole, staring and wondering.
deliberately violating principles of right and wrong
The witnesses for the state, with the exception of
the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to
this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted,
confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the
evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral
beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption
one associates with minds of their caliber.
having or showing profound knowledge
I never
deliberately learned to read, but somehow I had been wallowing illicitly in the
daily papers.
displaying or setting off to best advantage
When Miss Caroline threatened it with a similar fate the first grade exploded
again, becoming cold sober only when the shadow of Miss Blount fell over them.
the cognitive process whereby past experience is remembered
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard
from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked
much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer
was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a
right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm,
mm, mm.”
He had been on the verge of telling me something all evening; his face would
brighten and he would lean toward me, then he would change his mind.
to grip, cut off, or tear with or as if with the teeth or jaws
Walter stood where he was, biting his lip.
the state of having committed an offense
Mr. Avery said it was written on the Rosetta Stone that when
children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes and made war on each other,
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.
watch over so as to protect
At last
the sawhorses were taken away, and we stood watching from the front porch
when Mr. Radley made his final journey past our house.
Atticus had urged them to accept the state’s generosity in allowing them to plead
Guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were
Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.
a relatively large open container that you fill with water and use to wash the body
If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second
Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to
blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill
us all if we didn’t stand out of the way.
any plant of the genus Canna having large sheathing leaves and clusters of large showy flowers
My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk
to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas.
having confidence restored; freed from anxiety
I reassured him: “Can’t anybody tell what you’re
gonna do lest they live in the house with you, and even I can’t tell sometimes.”
“He sneaked out of the house—turn ‘round—sneaked up,
an’ went like this!”
become ground down or deteriorate
Yo‘ folks might be better’n the Cunninghams but it
don’t count for nothin’ the way you’re disgracin‘ ’em—if you can’t act fit to eat
at the table you can just set here and eat in the kitchen!”
characterized by a physical reaction to a food or substance
On Saturdays, armed with our nickels, when Jem
permitted me to accompany him (he was now positively allergic to my presence
when in public), we would squirm our way through sweating sidewalk crowds
and sometimes hear, “There’s his chillun,” or, “Yonder’s some Finches.”
successfully completed or brought to an end
When Atticus went
inside the house to retrieve a file he had forgotten to take to work that morning,
Jem finally realized that he had been done in by the oldest lawyer’s trick on
record.
an account of the series of events making up a person's life
“No,” said Atticus, “putting his life’s history on display for the edification of the
neighborhood.”
in a tight or constricted manner
“Scout, he’s stuck…” breathed Jem. “Oh God…”
Mr. Avery was wedged tightly.
uttering a loud inarticulate cry as of pain or excitement
Through all the headshaking,
quelling of nausea and Jem- yelling, I had heard another sound, so low I
could not have heard it from the sidewalk.
overlaid or spread or topped with or enclosed within something; sometimes used as a combining form
At first we saw nothing but a kudzu- covered front porch,
but a closer inspection revealed an arc of water descending from the leaves and
splashing in the yellow circle of the street light, some ten feet from source to
earth, it seemed to us.
bend or lay so that one part covers the other
Jem arbitrated, awarded me first push with an extra time for Dill, and I folded
myself inside the tire.
the act of fighting; any contest or struggle
Atticus had
promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more; I
was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to
hold in, the better off everybody would be.
secure with or as if with ropes
You reckon you could tie up my hand?
a way of access consisting of a set of steps
Simple enough; but
the daughters’ rooms could be reached only by one staircase, Welcome’s room
and the guestroom only by another.
ellipse in which the two axes are of equal length
They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal
recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street
for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a
missionary circle.
the kind and number and arrangement of teeth (collectively) in a person or animal
There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face;
what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most
of the time.
a crisp smooth lustrous fabric
Soft taffeta-like sounds and
Jem’s free dispensation of my pledge
irked me, but precious noontime minutes were ticking away.
not caught with the senses or the mind
“I missed you today,” she said.
anything that is cast aside
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
break or fall apart into fragments
I watched our Absolute Morphodite go
black and crumble; Miss Maudie’s sunhat settled on top of the heap.
the verbal act of naming
Atticus said naming people after Confederate generals
made slow steady drinkers.
in a specified area or place
“Don’t yawl
It stood on no lonely hill, but was wedged
between Tyndal’s Hardware Store and The Maycomb Tribune office.
causing disgust so strong it makes you feel sick
He walked quickly, but I thought he moved like an underwater
swimmer: time had slowed to a nauseating crawl.
sounding as if pronounced low in the throat
He was beginning to preface some things he said with a
throaty noise, and I thought he must at last be getting old, but he looked the same.
joining or attaching by stitches
When it was time to play Boo’s big scene, Jem would sneak into the house, steal
the scissors from the sewing-machine drawer when Calpurnia’s back was turned,
then sit in the swing and cut up newspapers.
soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime
When we went in the house I
saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd
that I had not heard him.
a parent of your father or mother
Henry and his wife deposited Francis at his grandparents’ every
Christmas, then pursued their own pleasures.
the act of testing something
Dill was becoming
I looked up to see Miss Caroline standing in the middle of the
room, sheer horror flooding her face.
harmonious arrangement or relation of parts within a whole
Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her
scuppernongs if we didn’t jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot, terms
so generous we seldom spoke to her, so careful were we to preserve the delicate
balance of our relationship, but Jem and Dill drove me closer to her with their
behavior.
recovering readily from adversity, depression, or the like
As I
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
people living in the same country; compatriots
Most of
the county, it seemed, was there: the hall was teeming with slicked-up country
people.
fire
the process of combustion of inflammable materials
I told Jem if he set fire to the Radley house I was going to tell Atticus on him.
the passage to the stomach and lungs
“…Mr. Nathan put cement in that tree, Atticus, an‘ he did it to stop us findin’
things—he’s crazy, I reckon, like they say, but Atticus, I swear to God he ain’t
ever harmed us, he ain’t ever hurt us, he coulda cut my throat from ear to ear that
night but he tried to mend my pants instead… he ain’t ever hurt us, Atticus—”
Atticus said, “Whoa, son,” so gently that I was greatly heartened.
keep out
prevent from entering; shut out
Jem and I had always enjoyed the free run of Miss Maudie’s yard if we kept out
of her azaleas, but our contact with her was not clearly defined.
come into sight or view
I suppose she chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint
line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First
Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she
discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste.
a painter or drawer of portraits
“Son, I can’t tell what you’re going to be—an engineer, a
lawyer, or a portrait painter.
filled to capacity
We
had just come to her gate when Jem snatched my baton and ran flailing wildly up
the steps into Mrs. Dubose’s front yard, forgetting everything Atticus had said,
forgetting that she packed a pistol under her shawls, forgetting that if Mrs.
Dubose missed, her girl Jessie probably wouldn’t.
the act of deviating from a vertical position
I turned to Atticus, but Atticus had gone to the jail and was leaning against it with
his face to the wall.
Atticus’s office was in the courthouse when he began his law practice, but after
several years of it he moved to quieter quarters in the Maycomb Bank building.
the vessel that contains the seeds of a plant
Refreshed by food, Dill recited this narrative: having been
bound in chains and left to die in the basement (there were basements in
Meridian) by his new father, who disliked him, and secretly kept alive on raw
field peas by a passing farmer who heard his cries for help (the good man poked a
bushel pod by pod through the ventilator), Dill worked himself free by pulling the
chains from the wall.
the food and drink of the gods
But her cooking made up for everything: three kinds of meat, summer vegetables
from her pantry shelves; peach pickles, two kinds of cake and ambrosia
constituted a modest Christmas dinner.
The more we told Dill about the Radleys, the more he wanted to know, the longer
he would stand hugging the light-pole on the corner, the more he would wonder.
see something for a brief time
Dill and Jem were simply going to peep in the window with the loose shutter to
see if they could get a look at Boo Radley, and if I didn’t want to go with them I
could go straight home and keep my fat flopping mouth shut, that was all.
more than one but indefinitely small in number
He made a few hesitant steps and stopped in front of the Radley
gate; then he tried to turn around, but was having difficulty.
be inactive or indifferent while something is happening
Contents - Prev / Next
Chapter 6
“Yes,” said our father, when Jem asked him if we could go over and sit by Miss
Rachel’s fishpool with Dill, as this was his last night in Maycomb.
If the judge released Arthur, Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no
further trouble.
able to act at will
Jem’s free dispensation of my pledge
irked me, but precious noontime minutes were ticking away.
turn or place at an angle
He was sitting behind his table; his chair was skewed to
one side, his legs were crossed and one arm was resting on the back of his chair.
the state of being hollow: having an empty space within
His cheeks were thin to hollowness; his mouth was
wide; there were shallow, almost delicate indentations at his temples, and his gray
eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind.
the case of nouns serving as the direct object of a verb
To all
parties present and participating in the life of the county, Aunt Alexandra was one
of the last of her kind: she had river-boat, boarding-school manners; let any moral
come along and she would uphold it; she was born in the objective case; she was
an incurable gossip.
a suit of clothes traditionally worn by businessmen
He wore an ordinary business suit, which
made him look somehow like every other man: gone were his high boots, lumber
jacket, and bullet-studded belt.
stable where horses and vehicles are kept for hire
Each child did what he wanted to do, with assistance from other children if
there was anything to be moved, such as placing a light buggy on top of the livery
stable.
He said he was trying to get Miss Maudie’s goat, that he had been
trying unsuccessfully for forty years, that he was the last person in the world Miss
Maudie would think about marrying but the first person she thought about teasing,
and the best defense to her was spirited offense, all of which we understood
clearly.
someone who leads a wandering unsettled life
He played the character parts formerly
thrust upon me— the ape in Tarzan, Mr. Crabtree in The Rover Boys, Mr. Damon
in Tom Swift.
a joint between the distal end of the radius and the proximal row of carpal bones
Jem grabbed his left
wrist and my right wrist, I grabbed my left wrist and Jem’s right wrist, we
crouched, and Dill sat on our saddle.
the closing section of a musical composition
Then the assembled
company would sing, “Maycomb County, Maycomb County, we will aye be true
to thee,” as the grand finale, and Mrs. Merriweather would mount the stage with
the state flag.
the hand that is on the right side of the body
He was among the most diminutive of men, but when Burris Ewell turned toward
him, Little Chuck’s right hand went to his pocket.
I returned to school and hated Calpurnia steadily until a sudden shriek shattered
my resentments.
having or resembling a finger or fingers
He fingered the straps of his overalls,
nervously picking at the metal hooks.
moving rapidly and lightly
Miss Caroline picked up
her ruler, gave me half a dozen quick little pats, then told me to stand in the
corner.
rescued; especially from the power and consequences of sin
If I could have explained these things to Miss Caroline, I would have saved
myself some inconvenience and Miss Caroline subsequent mortification, but it
was beyond my ability to explain things as well as Atticus, so I said, “You’re
shamin‘ him, Miss Caroline.
relating to or suitable for growth
John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father, and chose to
study medicine at a time when cotton was not worth growing; but after getting
Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law.
Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb’s leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding
arising from the alleged wrongful detention of a mare, were imprudent enough to
do it in the presence of three witnesses, and insisted that the-son-of-a-bitch-had-itcoming-
to-him was a good enough defense for anybody.
set
put into a certain place or abstract location
I told Jem if he set fire to the Radley house I was going to tell Atticus on him.
be around, often idly or without specific purpose
Afterwards, the adults made for the
livingroom and sat around in a dazed condition.
relating to or involving incest
Would you say the Finches have an Incestuous Streak?”
the process of shedding tears
He waited until he was sure she was crying, then he shuffled out of the building.
Furthermore, I couldn’t help noticing
that my father had served for years in the state legislature, elected each time
without opposition, innocent of the adjustments my teachers thought essential to
the development of Good Citizenship.
used of the younger of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a son from his father
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness
Jem hesitated at the door.
providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
He couldn’t have
He was one of the few men of science who never terrified me, probably because
he never behaved like a doctor.
blame for; make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against
I was fairly sure Boo Radley was inside that house, but I couldn’t prove it, and
felt it best to keep my mouth shut or I would be accused of believing in Hot
Steams, phenomena I was immune to in the daytime.
(law) a party to a lawsuit; someone involved in litigation
When asked upon what
grounds, Judge Taylor said, “Champertous connivance,” and declared he hoped to
God the litigants were satisfied by each having had their public say.
Atticus would snap off the radio and say, “Hmp!” I asked him
once why he was impatient with Hitler and Atticus said, “Because he’s a maniac.”
aroused to impatience or anger
“When he’s— riled, has he ever beaten you?”
slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries
(within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house
two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south.
the shovel or bucket of a dredge or backhoe
Jem scooped up an armful of dirt, patted it into a mound on which he added
another load, and another until he had constructed a torso.
Walking toward the office, Dill and I fell into step behind Atticus and Jem. Dill
was encumbered by the chair, and his pace was slower.
descend freely under the influence of gravity
When Miss Caroline threatened it with a similar fate the first grade exploded
again, becoming cold sober only when the shadow of Miss Blount fell over them.
an act that is regarded as a transgression of God's will
“But we can’t have communion with you all-”
Apparently deciding that it was easier to define primitive baptistry than closed
communion, Miss Maudie said: “Foot-washers believe anything that’s pleasure is
a sin.
wear off or die down
“Well, the night of November twenty-one I was comin‘ in from the woods with a
load o’kindlin’ and just as I got to the fence I heard Mayella screamin‘ like a
stuck hog inside the house—”
Here Judge Taylor glanced sharply at the witness and must have decided his
speculations devoid of evil intent, for he subsided sleepily.
a covering designed to be worn on a person's body
The place was self-sufficient:
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
of the blackest black; similar to the color of jet or coal
His age was
beginning to show, his one sign of inner turmoil, the strong line of his jaw melted
a little, one became aware of telltale creases forming under his ears, one noticed
not his jet-black hair but the gray patches growing at his temples.
Hours of wintertime had found me in the treehouse, looking over at the
schoolyard, spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope Jem
had given me, learning their games, following Jem’s red jacket through wriggling
circles of blind man’s buff, secretly sharing their misfortunes and minor victories.
large heavily built goat antelope of eastern Himalayan area
My curiosity burst: “Why were you all takin‘ up collection for Tom Robinson’s
wife?”
material consisting of the aggregate of minerals
Now lemme think… reckon we can rock him…”
Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: “I won’t say you
ran out on a dare an‘ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the
house.”
Reverend Sykes used his pulpit more freely to express his views on
individual lapses from grace: Jim Hardy had been absent from church for five
Sundays and he wasn’t sick; Constance Jackson had better watch her ways—she
was in grave danger for quarreling with her neighbors; she had erected the only
spite fence in the history of the Quarters.
in a remote location or at a distance from the usual route
If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second
Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to
blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill
us all if we didn’t stand out of the way.
have recourse to or make an appeal or request for help or information to
“There’s
some folks who don’t eat like us,” she whispered fiercely, “but you ain’t called on
to contradict ‘em at the table when they don’t.
small round bread leavened with baking-powder or soda
She was a less than satisfactory source of
palliation, but she did give Jem a hot biscuit-and-butter which he tore in half and
shared with me.
a room that is partly or wholly below ground level
Our houses had no
cellars; they were built on stone blocks a few feet above the ground, and the entry
of reptiles was not unknown but was not commonplace.
an extreme state of worry and agitation
My confidence in pulpit Gospel lessened at the vision of Miss Maudie stewing
forever in various Protestant hells.
campaigning for something by making political speeches
Jem knew as well as I that it was difficult to walk
fast without stumping a toe, tripping on stones, and other inconveniences, and I
was barefooted.
spring back; spring away from an impact
There was no acknowledgement save he-en bouncing off the distant
schoolhouse wall.
deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
Ground, sky and houses melted into a mad palette, my ears throbbed, I was
suffocating.
dressed in clothing characteristic of a period, country, or class
She thought it
would be adorable if some of the children were costumed to represent the
county’s agricultural products: Cecil Jacobs would be dressed up to look like a
cow; Agnes Boone would make a lovely butterbean, another child would be a
peanut, and on down the line until Mrs. Merriweather’s imagination and the
supply of children were exhausted.
neither warm nor very cold; giving relief from heat
I’ll just fetch you
some cool water.”
standing apart; not attached to or supported by anything
I could not remember when the lines above Atticus’s moving finger
separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory,
listening to the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of
Lorenzo Dow—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his
lap every night.
separate with or as if with an instrument
A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut
across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked.
a pen that is supplied with ink from a reservoir in its barrel
He drew out an envelope,
then reached into his vest pocket and unclipped his fountain pen.
in a manner marked by extreme or violent energy
Jem looked at me furiously, could not decline, ran down the sidewalk, treaded
water at the gate, then dashed in and retrieved the tire.
after an unspecified period of time or a long delay
Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid
nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated;
although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in
Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their
initial suspicions.
electric lamp consisting of a transparent or translucent glass housing containing a wire filament (usually tungsten) that emits light when heated by electricity
There was a light bulb on the
end.
the playing field on which football is played
It was the size
the collection of books comprising the sacred scripture of the Hebrews and recording their history as the chosen people; the first half of the Christian Bible
Miss Maudie’s face likened such an
occurrence unto an Old Testament pestilence.
the faculty through which the external world is apprehended
Then he jumped, landed unhurt, and his sense of responsibility
left him until confronted by the Radley Place.
necessary for relief or supply
Jem would reappear as needed in the shapes of the sheriff,
assorted townsfolk, and Miss Stephanie Crawford, who had more to say about the
Radleys than anybody in Maycomb.
long bench with backs; used in church by the congregation
With that, Calpurnia led us to the church door where we were greeted by
Reverend Sykes, who led us to the front pew.
the time of day immediately following sunset
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
having or as if having three legs
John looked at him as if he were a three-legged chicken or a square
egg.
on the positive side or higher end of a scale
We lived on the main residential street in town— Atticus, Jem and I, plus
Calpurnia our cook.
excavation from which ores and minerals are extracted
“I’m big enough to fit mine,” he said.
regard something as probable or likely
We went
to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy— Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was
expecting— instead we found someone sitting looking at us.
break a piece from a whole
Atticus would snap off the radio and say, “Hmp!” I asked him
once why he was impatient with Hitler and Atticus said, “Because he’s a maniac.”
shaped like a dish or pan
Calpurnia poured milk, dished out potato salad and ham, muttering, “‘shamed of
yourselves,” in varying degrees of intensity.
a horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales
Aunt Alexandra rose and smoothed the various whalebone ridges along her hips.
a ladle that has a cup with a long handle
An oppressive odor met us when we crossed the threshold, an odor I had met
many times in rain-rotted gray houses where there are coal-oil lamps, water
dippers, and unbleached domestic sheets.
a flat mass of soft material used for protection, stuffing, or comfort
The following Monday afternoon Jem and I climbed the steep front steps to Mrs.
Dubose’s house and padded down the open hallway.
raise a formal objection in a court of law
“Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard—”
“Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in
favor of a colored man over a white man…” But Jem took exception to Reverend
Sykes, and we were subjected to a lengthy review of the evidence with Jem’s
ideas on the law regarding rape: it wasn’t rape if she let you, but she had to be
eighteen—in Alabama, that is—and Mayella was nineteen.
anything with a round shape resembling a teardrop
There was a light bulb on the
end.
They parted and made a small pathway to the church door for
us.
someone who deliberately stirs up trouble
She’s a
troublemaker from way back, got fancy ideas an’ haughty ways—we’re mighty
glad to have you all.”
(law) the administration of justice according to established rules and principles; based on the principle that a person cannot be deprived of life or liberty or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards
Senseless
killing—Tom had been given due process of law to the day of his death; he had
been tried openly and convicted by twelve good men and true; my father had
fought for him all the way.
an erratic deflection from an intended course
They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they
had no sense of family—I knew that’d distress Aunty—they subjected children to
terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and
earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot
and then got drunk on it.
poorly conceived or thought out
“Gertrude,” she
an evil spirit or ghost
We squandered our first nickels on the House of Horrors, which
scared us not at all; we entered the black seventh-grade room and were led around
by the temporary ghoul in residence and were made to touch several objects
alleged to be component parts of a human being.
improperly forward or bold
Besides being the sassiest, most disrespectful mutts who
ever passed her way, we were told that it was quite a pity our father had not
remarried after our mother’s death.
a small thin sharp bit or wood or glass or metal
Whenever he performed a minor service for Jem
and me, as removing a splinter from a foot, he would tell us exactly what he was
going to do, give us an estimation of how much it would hurt, and explain the use
of any tongs he employed.
I was to stick with the first grade and he would stick with the
fifth.
hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
Her hands were knobby, and the cuticles were grown up
over her fingernails.
having the husk or outer layers removed
The high school building had a wide downstairs hallway; people milled
around booths that had been installed along each side.
a close observer; someone who looks at something
Normally, they were the court’s only spectators, and today
they seemed resentful of the interruption of their comfortable routine.
someone who collects taxes for the government
To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county
cubbyholes: the tax assessor, the tax collector, the county clerk, the county
solicitor, the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that
smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine.
not having or belonging to a structured whole
Until then, Halloween in Maycomb was a completely unorganized
affair.
grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall
pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the
children: Radley pecans would kill you.
(of hair) colored a moderate reddish-brown
The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary
education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through
engineering school at Auburn.
cause to stop operating by disengaging a switch
Finally Atticus returned, switched off the light
above the jail door, and picked up his chair.
in an unnatural eery manner
An old Franklin stove sat in a corner of the porch; above it a hat-rack mirror
caught the moon and shone eerily.
defend against attack or criticism
His hair stuck up behind and
down in front, and I wondered if it would ever look like a man’s—maybe if he
shaved it off and started over, his hair would grow back neatly in place.
“Now get the basket and haul all the snow you can rake up
from the back yard to the front.
any of various wild or domestic cattle
Her voice soared over the clink of coffee cups
and the soft bovine sounds of the ladies munching their dainties.
in the process of being tested or tried
“I am not. ‘t’s morbid, watching a poor devil on trial for his life.
form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case
I can’t conceive of
anyone low-down enough to do a thing like this, but I hope you found him.”
capable of arousing and holding the attention
Judge Taylor was polling the jury: “Guilty… guilty… guilty…
guilty…” I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail,
and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them.
separate or cause to separate abruptly
Why are you tearing up that
newspaper?
a stick carried in the hand for support in walking
“Whoa now, just a minute,” said a club member, holding up his walking stick.
of or related to or made of wool
I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woolen blanket I was wearing
around my shoulders, squaw-fashion.
a cleaning implement for sweeping
Atticus suggested that Jem hone down his creation’s front a little, swap a broom
for the stovewood, and put an apron on him.
a manner that does not take forms and ceremonies seriously
Judge Taylor looked like most judges I had
ever seen: amiable, white-haired, slightly ruddy-faced, he was a man who ran his
court with an alarming informality—he sometimes propped his feet up, he often
cleaned his fingernails with his pocket knife.
having little length or lacking in length
He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair
was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but
I towered over him.
leave behind empty; move out of
Atticus picked up the Mobile Press and sat down in the rocking chair Jem had
vacated.
certain to get or have
When Atticus came home that evening he said we
were in for it, and asked Calpurnia if she wanted to stay with us for the night.
in or at or to some place
There’s a little teeny light way off somewhere, though.”
learn belatedly; find out about something after it happened
When Walter caught up with us, Jem made pleasant conversation with him.
a device signaling the occurrence of some undesirable event
There was a marble-topped washstand by her bed; on it were a glass with a
teaspoon in it, a red ear syringe, a box of absorbent cotton, and a steel alarm clock
standing on three tiny legs.
someone who has red hair
I jerked awake and made an honest effort to remain so, by looking down
and concentrating on the heads below: there were sixteen bald ones, fourteen men
that could pass for redheads, forty heads varying between brown and black, and—
I remembered something Jem had once explained to me when he went through a
brief period of psychical research: he said if enough people—a stadium full,
maybe—were to concentrate on one thing, such as setting a tree afire in the
woods, that the tree would ig...
thrown into a state of agitated confusion;
She rattled the telephone hook and said, “Miss Eula May—now ma’am, I’m
through talkin‘ to Mr. Finch, please don’t connect me no more—listen, Miss Eula
May, can you call Miss Rachel and Miss Stephanie Crawford and whoever’s got a
phone on this street and tell ’em a mad dog’s comin‘?
consider something to be bad, wrong, or inappropriate
He was a year older than I, and I avoided him on
principle: he enjoyed everything I disapproved of, and disliked my ingenuous
diversions.
register one's arrival at work
He
slapped me and I tried another left, but a punch in the stomach sent me sprawling
on the floor.
the lowest (farthest) ebb of the tide
It worked separate and apart from the rest of her, out and in,
like a clam hole at low tide.
I began to sense the futility one feels
when unacknowledged by a chance acquaintance.
the process of extracting moisture
“Well, Atticus, I was just sayin‘ to Mr. Cunningham that entailments are bad an’
all that, but you said not to worry, it takes a long time sometimes… that you all’d
ride it out together…” I was slowly drying up, wondering what idiocy I had
committed.
on or of lower floors of a building
At the end of the road
was a two-storied white house with porches circling it upstairs and downstairs.
a sweet yellow liquid produced by bees
“No, honey.”
a bathroom sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you can wash your hands and face
There was a marble-topped washstand by her bed; on it were a glass with a
teaspoon in it, a red ear syringe, a box of absorbent cotton, and a steel alarm clock
standing on three tiny legs.
the inner surface of the hand
Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his
palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful.
social insect living in organized colonies
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
stooped (used of the back and knees)
Calpurnia bent down and kissed me.
a tool for rounding corners or edges
In the glare from the streetlight, I could see Dill hatching one: his eyes widened,
his fat cherub face grew rounder.
make furious
I tried to explain to Atticus that it wasn’t so much what Francis said that had
infuriated me as the way he had said it.
filled or abounding with clouds
To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county
cubbyholes: the tax assessor, the tax collector, the county clerk, the county
solicitor, the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that
smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine.
the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
Did you know some of ‘em came out of the woods one Saturday and passed
by this place and told me me and my flowers were going to hell?”
a formal content in which people or teams compete
“Strike a match under him.”
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the
elbow.
one of three sisters who were the givers of beauty and charm
Thus the dicta No Crawford Minds His Own
Business, Every Third Merriweather Is Morbid, The Truth Is Not in the
Delafields, All the Bufords Walk Like That, were simply guides to daily living:
never take a check from a Delafield without a discreet call to the bank; Miss
Maudie Atkinson’s shoulder stoops because she was a Buford; if Mrs. Grace
Merriweather sips gin out of Lydia E. Pinkham bottles it’s nothing unusual—her
mother did the same.
operate or control a vehicle
As Mr.
Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out,
wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.
persons who make or amend or repeal laws
She was a Graham
from Montgomery; Atticus met her when he was first elected to the state
legislature.
a heavy coat worn over clothes in winter
Atticus’s
weight to be borne or conveyed
One morning Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the back yard.
capable of being accepted as true
This was believable.
incapable of or resistant to bending
Men’s stiff collars wilted by
nine in the morning.
stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
Conscious,” he smiled, “and cantankerous.
a journey or route all the way around a place or area
To reach the courtroom, on the second floor, one passed sundry sunless county
cubbyholes: the tax assessor, the tax collector, the county clerk, the county
solicitor, the circuit clerk, the judge of probate lived in cool dim hutches that
smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine.
write about a particular topic
Mr. Avery said it was written on the Rosetta Stone that when
children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes and made war on each other,
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.
Light was in heaven then, God rest his saintly brow…”
“Come here, Scout,” said Atticus.
facing or experiencing financial trouble or difficulty
I do my best to love everybody… I’m hard put, sometimes—
baby, it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name.
eliminate by paying off (debts)
The Methodists were trying to pay off their church mortgage, and had
challenged the Baptists to a game of touch football.
now and then or here and there
My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk
to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas.
having one side lower or smaller or lighter than the other
“He’s gone lopsided,” said Jem.
Calpurnia stared, then grabbed us by the shoulders and ran us home.
go after
go after with the intent to catch
Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I
know you’ll go after birds.
burn completely; be consumed or destroyed by fire
Miss Blount, a native Maycombian as yet uninitiated in the mysteries of the
Decimal System, appeared at the door hands on hips and announced: “If I hear
another sound from this room I’ll burn up everybody in it.
covered with or full of bumps
Two live oaks stood at the edge of the Radley lot; their roots reached out into the
side-road and made it bumpy.
not showing regard for others in manners, speech, or conduct
It was impolite to point.
Tell you the truth, I’d like
to’ve been with you.
the act of applying force in order to move something away
He did, by pushing the tire down the sidewalk with all the force in his body.
put clothing on one's body
Mindful of John Wesley’s strictures on the use of many words
in buying and selling, Simon made a pile practicing medicine, but in this pursuit
he was unhappy lest he be tempted into doing what he knew was not for the glory
of God, as the putting on of gold and costly apparel.
a stiff hat made of straw with a flat crown
She was a
widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and
men’s coveralls, but after her five o’clock bath she would appear on the porch and
reign over the street in magisterial beauty.
an expression of emphatic agreement
“Up on that side of the face Sheriff
please repeat what you said it was her right eye I said—”
“Thank you, Bert,” said Atticus.
place in a grave or tomb
As I was the last to leave, I saw her sink
down into her chair and bury her head in her arms.
of comparatively great physical weight or density
I saw Atticus carrying Miss
Maudie’s heavy oak rocking chair, and thought it sensible of him to save what she
valued most.
what I knew not, yet I did not believe that twelve years of unrelieved boredom
was exactly what the state had in mind for me.
a route over which supplies can be delivered
Jem sat from after
breakfast until sunset and would have remained overnight had not Atticus severed
his supply lines.
the state of being quiet (as when no one is speaking)
No comment
seemed to be expected of us, and the class received these impressionistic
revelations in silence.
the basic monetary unit in many countries
His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a
photographer in Meridian, had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and
won five dollars.
implied by or inferred from actions or statements
Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her
scuppernongs if we didn’t jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot, terms
so generous we seldom spoke to her, so careful were we to preserve the delicate
balance of our relationship, but Jem and Dill drove me closer to her with their
behavior.
tending to or capable of propelling
Unaware of public scrutiny from above, Judge
Taylor disposed of the severed end by propelling it expertly to his lips and saying,
“Fhluck!”
This practice allegedly overcame a variety of evils:
standing in front of his fellows encouraged good posture and gave a child poise;
delivering a short talk made him word-conscious; learning his current event
strengthened his memory; being singled out made him more than ever anxious to
return to the Group.
marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
Any stealthy small crimes committed in
Maycomb were his work.
miss a step and fall or nearly fall
When Mr. Nathan Radley passed us on his daily trip to town, we would stand still
and silent until he was out of sight, then wonder what he would do to us if he
suspected.
move away from a place into another direction
When I joined them, as usual they said go away.
My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk
to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas.
trousers ending above the knee
He was silent for a while, then he
said, “When I went back for my breeches—they were all in a tangle when I was
gettin‘ out of ’em, I couldn’t get ‘em loose.
an agreement in 1820 between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States concerning the extension of slavery into new territories
“Tell you, Atticus,” Cousin
Ike would say, “the Missouri Compromise was what licked us, but if I had to go
through it agin I’d walk every step of the way there an‘ every step back jist like I
did before an’ furthermore we’d whip ‘em this time… now in 1864, when
Stonewall Jackson came around by—I beg your pardon, young folks.
marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint
Thus the dicta No Crawford Minds His Own
Business, Every Third Merriweather Is Morbid, The Truth Is Not in the
Delafields, All the Bufords Walk Like That, were simply guides to daily living:
never take a check from a Delafield without a discreet call to the bank; Miss
Maudie Atkinson’s shoulder stoops because she was a Buford; if Mrs. Grace
Merriweather sips gin out of Lydia E. Pinkham bottles it’s nothing unusual—her
mother did the same.
the middle of the day
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
It was obstreperous, disorderly and abusive—”
“You gonna give me a chance to tell you?
mock or make fun of playfully
He said he was trying to get Miss Maudie’s goat, that he had been
trying unsuccessfully for forty years, that he was the last person in the world Miss
Maudie would think about marrying but the first person she thought about teasing,
and the best defense to her was spirited offense, all of which we understood
clearly.
express the need or desire for; ask for
When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was
careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to
approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to
embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at
recess and noon.
being in a tense state
Miss Stephanie said old Mr. Radley said no Radley was going to any asylum,
when it was suggested that a season in Tuscaloosa might be helpful to Boo. Boo
wasn’t crazy, he was high-strung at times.
completely wanting or lacking
Jem’s chin would come up, and he would gaze at Mrs. Dubose with a face devoid
of resentment.
sleeping for a short period of time (usually not in bed)
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
succeed in reaching a real or abstract destination after overcoming problems
That something was wrong finally got through to me.
the act of delivering a blow with the foot
We ran back and found him struggling in the fence, kicking his pants off to get
loose.
the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
Dill’s father was taller than ours, he had a black beard (pointed),
and was president of the L & N Railroad.
to come or go into
His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a
photographer in Meridian, had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and
won five dollars.
in a condition for letting out liquid drawn out as by piercing or drawing a plug
He stopped in front of
the dog, squatted, turned around and tapped his finger on his forehead above his
left eye.
the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
Their sister Alexandra was the
Finch who remained at the Landing: she married a taciturn man who spent most
of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trot-lines were full.
the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on
He said he was trying to get Miss Maudie’s goat, that he had been
trying unsuccessfully for forty years, that he was the last person in the world Miss
Maudie would think about marrying but the first person she thought about teasing,
and the best defense to her was spirited offense, all of which we understood
clearly.
the highest federal court in the United States
It can be the Supreme Court of
the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honorable court
which you serve.
someone who pays for goods or services
His
a considerate and respectful manner
Two days later Dill arrived in a blaze of glory: he had ridden the train by himself
from Meridian to Maycomb Junction (a courtesy title—Maycomb Junction was in
Abbott County) where he had been met by Miss Rachel in Maycomb’s one taxi;
he had eaten dinner in the diner, he had seen two twins hitched together get off
the train in Bay St. Louis and stuck to his story regardless of threats.
metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound
Dill grabbed the clapper; in the silence that followed, I wished he’d start ringing it
again.
any period of seven consecutive days
We saw him off on the five
o’clock bus and I was miserable without him until it occurred to me that I would
be starting to school in a week.
observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect
He examined
an address of a religious nature
When Uncle Jack caught
me, he kept me laughing about a preacher who hated going to church so much
that every day he stood at his gate in his dressing-gown, smoking a hookah and
delivering five-minute sermons to any passers-by who desired spiritual comfort.
a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet
So Simon, having forgotten
his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves and
with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some
forty miles above Saint Stephens.
make by combining materials and parts
He waited until he was sure she was crying, then he shuffled out of the building.
(especially of the face) reddened or suffused with or as if with blood from emotion or exertion
Jem’s ears reddened from Atticus’s compliment, but he looked up sharply when
he saw Atticus stepping back.
sequin
adornment consisting of a small piece of shiny material used to decorate clothing
I had long had my eye on that baton: it was at V. J. Elmore’s, it was bedecked
with sequins and tinsel, it cost seventeen cents.
troubled persistently
I knew I had annoyed Miss Caroline, so I let well enough alone and stared out the
window until recess when Jem cut me from the covey of first-graders in the
schoolyard.
American revolutionary patriot who was president of the Continental Congress; was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence (1737-1793)
The fact that Aunty
was a good cook was some compensation for being forced to spend a religious
holiday with Francis Hancock.
any of various burrowing animals of the family Leporidae having long ears and short tails; some domesticated and raised for pets or food
The remains
of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard— a “swept” yard that was never
swept— where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.
One day we were so busily playing Chapter XXV, Book II of One Man’s Family,
we did not see Atticus standing on the sidewalk looking at us, slapping a rolled
magazine against his knee.
continue to live through hardship or adversity
Simon would have regarded with impotent fury the disturbance between the North
and the South, as it left his descendants stripped of everything but their land, yet
the tradition of living on the land remained unbroken until well into the twentieth
century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his
younger brother went to Boston to study medicine.
person who does no work
I found
myself in the middle of the Idlers’ Club and made myself as unobtrusive as
possible.
a protective covering that covers or forms the top of a building
Instead of a column, a rough two-by-four supported one end of the
roof.
a robe worn before dressing or while lounging
She was in her dressing gown, and I could have
sworn she had on her corset underneath it.
the rind of a fruit or vegetable
It was an ancient paint- peeled frame
building, the only church in Maycomb with a steeple and bell, called First
Purchase because it was paid for from the first earnings of freed slaves.
a person who holds Ph.D. degree from an academic institution
As
Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for
doctors and dentists and lawyers.
(of birds) especially having the flight feathers
Its
someone skilled in the transcription of speech
Her Missionary Society refreshments
added to her reputation as a hostess (she did not permit Calpurnia to make the
delicacies required to sustain the Society through long reports on Rice Christians);
she joined and became Secretary of the Maycomb Amanuensis Club.
not having a coat of paint or badly in need of a fresh coat
First Purchase was unceiled and unpainted within.
the way something is with respect to its main attributes
Atticus had urged them to accept the state’s generosity in allowing them to plead
Guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were
Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.
a collection of things sharing a common attribute
The class
murmured apprehensively, should she prove to harbor her share of the
peculiarities indigenous to that region.
a device that introduces fresh air or expels foul air
Refreshed by food, Dill recited this narrative: having been
bound in chains and left to die in the basement (there were basements in
Meridian) by his new father, who disliked him, and secretly kept alive on raw
field peas by a passing farmer who heard his cries for help (the good man poked a
bushel pod by pod through the ventilator), Dill worked himself free by pulling the
chains from the wall.
in or to a place that is higher
So Simon, having forgotten
his teacher’s dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves and
with their aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some
forty miles above Saint Stephens.
the space left between the margin and a line set in
His cheeks were thin to hollowness; his mouth was
wide; there were shallow, almost delicate indentations at his temples, and his gray
eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind.
remove by or as if by cutting
Instead,
Maycomb grew and sprawled out from its hub, Sinkfield’s Tavern, because
Sinkfield reduced his guests to myopic drunkenness one evening, induced them to
bring forward their maps and charts, lop off a little here, add a bit there, and
adjust the center of the county to meet his requirements.
turn in a twisting or spinning motion
Jem thought he had enough to buy a
miniature steam engine for himself and a twirling baton for me.
having great extent from one side to the other
She was all angles and bones; she was
nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.
A flip of the coin revealed the uncompromising lineaments of Aunt Alexandra
and Francis.
causing or marked by grief or anguish
A lovelier lady than our mother never lived,
she said, and it was heartbreaking the way Atticus Finch let her children run wild.
providing assistance or serving a useful function
Miss Stephanie said old Mr. Radley said no Radley was going to any asylum,
when it was suggested that a season in Tuscaloosa might be helpful to Boo. Boo
wasn’t crazy, he was high-strung at times.
the capability of conscious choice and decision
If he held his mouth right, Mr.
Cunningham could get a WPA job, but his land would go to ruin if he left it, and
he was willing to go hungry to keep his land and vote as he pleased.
a reflex that closes and opens the eyes rapidly
Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in
the afternoon sun.
Molasses buckets appeared from nowhere, and the ceiling danced with metallic
light.
a ring given to the bride at the wedding
It was the kind of box wedding
rings came in, purple velvet with a minute catch.
group of genetically related organisms in a line of descent
Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations.
a person who drinks liquids
Atticus said naming people after Confederate generals
made slow steady drinkers.
cause to be quiet or not talk
“If this thing’s hushed up it’ll be a simple
denial to Jem of the way I’ve tried to raise him.
the act of taking something for granted
I could see nothing in Mayella’s expression to justify Atticus’s assumption that he
had secured her wholehearted cooperation.
the act that results in something coming to be
He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea
of making Boo Radley come out.
impossible or nearly impossible to see
A tiny, almost invisible movement,
and the house was still.
Atticus was expounding upon farm problems
when Walter interrupted to ask if there was any molasses in the house.
the act of splashing a (liquid) substance on a surface
At first we saw nothing but a kudzu-covered front porch,
but a closer inspection revealed an arc of water descending from the leaves and
splashing in the yellow circle of the street light, some ten feet from source to
earth, it seemed to us.
extend out or project in space
The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house.
lizard of Africa and Madagascar able to change skin color
She was a
widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and
men’s coveralls, but after her five o’clock bath she would appear on the porch and
reign over the street in magisterial beauty.
suffering from overexposure to direct sunlight
Sunburned, lanky, they seemed to be
all farmers, but this was natural: townfolk rarely sat on juries, they were either
struck or excused.
the trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area
Did you know some of ‘em came out of the woods one Saturday and passed
by this place and told me me and my flowers were going to hell?”
with resentment; in a resentful manner
Mayella jerked her head
a fast gait of a horse
When I passed the Radley Place for the fourth time that day—twice at a full gallop
—my gloom had deepened to match the house.
a white nutritious liquid secreted by mammals and used as food by human beings
You don’t have to learn much out of books that way—it’s like if
you wanta learn about cows, you go milk one, see?”
widely accepted as true or worthy
The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary
education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through
engineering school at Auburn.
a deaf person who is unable to speak
Mr. Ewell reminded me of a deaf-mute.
frozen dessert containing cream and sugar and flavoring
Dill said, “We’re askin‘ him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what
he does in there—we said we wouldn’t hurt him and we’d buy him an ice cream.”
fat from the back and sides and belly of a hog carcass cured with salt
The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the
family: hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs.
the most common medium of exchange
There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go,
nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries
of Maycomb County.
as the end result of a succession or process
He bore with fortitude her Wait Till I Get You Home, Your Folks Are Out of
Their Minds Worryin‘, was quite calm during That’s All the Harris in You
Coming Out, smiled at her Reckon You Can Stay One Night, and returned the
hug at long last bestowed upon him.
strike down or shoot down
I think maybe he put his gun down when he realized that God had given him
an unfair advantage over most living things.
the sacred writings of the Christian religions
She would set me a writing task by scrawling the alphabet firmly across the
top of a tablet, then copying out a chapter of the Bible beneath.
having come or been brought to a conclusion
“She
likes Jem better’n she likes me, anyway,” I concluded, and suggested that Atticus
lose no time in packing her off.
seek out and bring together
Well anyway,
Hitler’s started a program to round up all the half-Jews too and he wants to
register ‘em in case they might wanta cause him any trouble and I think this is a
bad thing and that’s my current event.”
sit or lie with one's limbs spread out
Instead,
Maycomb grew and sprawled out from its hub, Sinkfield’s Tavern, because
Sinkfield reduced his guests to myopic drunkenness one evening, induced them to
bring forward their maps and charts, lop off a little here, add a bit there, and
adjust the center of the county to meet his requirements.
extend out or project in space
I stuck out my tongue and caught a
fat flake.
(of weather) wet by periods of rain
In
rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the
courthouse sagged in the square.
a plan for actively doing something
Dill was in hearty agreement with this plan of action.
point or cause to go towards
Says he’s got the other barrel
waitin‘ for the next sound he hears in that patch, an’ next time he won’t aim high,
be it dog, nigger, or—Jem Finch!”
(used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture
It ended in a small
shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use
to him.
of an indefinite number more than 2 or 3 but not many
During his first five years in Maycomb, Atticus practiced economy more than
anything; for several years thereafter he invested his earnings in his brother’s
education.
a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt
He gave a short contemptuous snort.
characterized by kindness and warm courtesy
“ Gracious child, I was raveling a thread, wasn’t even thinking about your father,
but now that I am I’ll say this: Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on
the public streets.
any liliaceous plant of the genus Lilium having showy pendulous flowers
“Speak to your Cousin Lily,” she said one afternoon, when she had trapped me in
the hall.
a medical instrument used to inject or withdraw fluids
There was a marble-topped washstand by her bed; on it were a glass with a
teaspoon in it, a red ear syringe, a box of absorbent cotton, and a steel alarm clock
standing on three tiny legs.
the act of retaining something
Jem was holding his ears, shaking his head from side to side.
make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath
“Nothing, Jean Louise,” she said, in stately largo, “the cooks and field hands are
just dissatisfied, but they’re settling down now—they grumbled all next day after
that trial.”
the skin that covers the top of the head
He searched the scalp above his forehead, located his guest and
pinched it between his thumb and forefinger.
a framework for holding objects
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more
than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
Men’s stiff collars wilted by
nine in the morning.
befitting a woman of good breeding
It’s not ladylike—in the second place,
folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin‘ more than they do.
playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest
Tom Robinson was toying with them.
“…absence of any corroborative evidence, this man was indicted on a capital
charge and is now on trial for his life…”
I punched Jem. “How long’s he been at it?”
lacking significance or liveliness or spirit or zest
But by the end of August our repertoire was vapid from countless reproductions,
and it was then that Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.
use up (resources or materials)
That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he
wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?”
pasta in the form of long strings
“These are his innards,” and our hands were thrust into a plate of
cold spaghetti.
discharge from the lungs and out of the mouth
They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they
had no sense of family—I knew that’d distress Aunty—they subjected children to
terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and
earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot
and then got drunk on it.
utter or emit low, dull, resonant sounds
Zeebo cleared his throat and read in a voice like the rumble of distant artillery:
“There’s a land beyond the river.”
of or relating to a civil officer who administers the law
She was a
widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and
men’s coveralls, but after her five o’clock bath she would appear on the porch and
reign over the street in magisterial beauty.
modest in comparison with the empires around it, the Landing nevertheless
produced everything required to sustain life except ice, wheat flour, and articles
of clothing, supplied by river-boats from Mobile.
run away from confinement
The town decided something had to
be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he
was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace,
assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and
hearing of a female.
early-ripening apple popular in the northeastern United States; primarily eaten raw but suitable for applesauce
1960
a manually operated device for extinguishing small fires
There was no hydrant for another hose, and the men tried to soak her house with
hand extinguishers.
a device or control that is very useful for a particular job
I could duck under and
someone would pull the contraption down over my head.
thick dark syrup produced by boiling down juice from sugar cane; especially during sugar refining
Molasses buckets appeared from nowhere, and the ceiling danced with metallic
light.
extend or continue for a certain period of time
“Why, I run for Tate quick as I could.
a large open container filled with water to wash the body
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps,
and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
the extreme end of something, especially something pointed
There was no color in his face except at
the tip of his nose, which was moistly pink.
an engineer who determines boundaries and elevations of land
Business was excellent when
Governor William Wyatt Bibb, with a view to promoting the newly created
county’s domestic tranquility, dispatched a team of surveyors to locate its exact
center and there establish its seat of government.
take to be the case or to be true
Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and
came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the
neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries.
moving backward and forward along a given course
Miss Caroline walked up and down the rows peering and poking into lunch
containers, nodding if the contents pleased her, frowning a little at others.
refrain from divulging sensitive information
“Nothing,” said Jem.
a marking that consists of lines that cross each other
A network of tiny lines crisscrossed her palms, brown with dirt
and dried blood.
a regular journey to and from your place of work
“He’ll go to the chair,” said Atticus, “unless the Governor commutes his sentence.
domesticated bovine animals as a group regardless of sex or age
You don’t have to learn much out of books that way—it’s like if
you wanta learn about cows, you go milk one, see?”
the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth
I saw a muscle jump in his skinny jaw.
the period of time each year when the school is open and people are studying
If the remainder of the school year
were as fraught with drama as the first day, perhaps it would be mildly
entertaining, but the prospect of spending nine months refraining from reading
and writing made me think of running away.
tasting sour like a lemon
The gentle hum of ladies’ voices grew louder as she opened the door: “Why,
Alexandra, I never saw such charlotte… just lovely… I never can get my crust
like this, never can… who’d‘ve thought of little dewberry tarts… Calpurnia?…
who’da thought it… anybody tell you that the preacher’s wife’s… nooo, well she
is, and that other one not walkin’ yet…”
They became quiet, and I knew they had all been served.
a device in which something can be caught and penned
All we had
was Simon Finch, a fur- trapping apothecary from Cornwall whose piety was
exceeded only by his stinginess.
pick consisting of a small strip of wood or plastic
Mr. Avery averaged a stick of stovewood per week; he honed it down to a
toothpick and chewed it.
feeling self-respect or pleasure in something
Nothing—it seems with all that you’d be proud of him.
near in time or place or relationship
Miss
a lamp that burns oil (as kerosine) for light
An oppressive odor met us when we crossed the threshold, an odor I had met
many times in rain-rotted gray houses where there are coal- oil lamps, water
dippers, and unbleached domestic sheets.
having a specified kind of border or edge
Dill remained at the light-pole on the
front corner of the lot, and Jem and I edged down the sidewalk parallel to the side
of the house.
of or having to do with the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War
Cousin Ike Finch was Maycomb
County’s sole surviving Confederate veteran.
at or to or toward the front
I never looked forward more to anything in my
life.
the state of being tense and feeling pain
Mr. Avery said it was written on the Rosetta Stone that when
children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes and made war on each other,
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.
a company that makes and sells steel
North Alabama was full of Liquor Interests, Big
Mules, steel companies, Republicans, professors, and other persons of no
background.
make off with belongings of others
Miss Tutti was sure those traveling fur sellers who came through town two days
ago had purloined their furniture.
recover something or somebody that appeared to be lost
I don’t want you hollerin‘ something different the minute I
get back.”
After nine hours of listening to the eccentricities of Old Sarum’s
inhabitants, Judge Taylor threw the case out of court.
an eight-sided polygon
She made me soap all over twice,
drew fresh water in the tub for each rinse; she stuck my head in the basin and
washed it with Octagon soap and castile.
a visual representation produced on a surface
His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a
photographer in Meridian, had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and
won five dollars.
take a ten minute break
We’ll take ten minutes.”
building material used as siding or roofing
Rain-rotted shingles