From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Chapters 9-10

by E.L. Konigsburg
When Claudia Kincaid and her brother run away from home, they find themselves caught up in a mystery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Learn these words from E. L. Konigsburg's award-winning novel.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: To My Lawyer-Chapter 2, Chapters 3-4, Chapters 5-6, Chapters 7-8, Chapters 9-10
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. antique
    belonging to or lasting from times long ago
    They walked behind Parks through my living room, drawing room, and library. Rooms so filled with antique furniture, Oriental rugs, and heavy chandeliers that you complain that they are also filled with antique air. Well, when a house is as old as mine, you can expect everything in it to be thickened by time.
  2. research
    systematic investigation to establish facts
    (You once told me, Saxonberg, that my office looks more like a laboratory than an office. That’s why I call what I do there research.)
  3. furnish
    provide with objects or articles that make a room usable
    I suppose it does look like a lab furnished as it is with steel, Formica, vinyl and lit by fluorescence.
  4. baroque
    having elaborate symmetrical ornamentation
    I was sitting at one of the tables wearing my customary white lab coat and my baroque pearl necklace when the children were brought in.
  5. interrupt
    interfere in someone else's activity
    The importance of Parks’s manner is what kept them from interrupting me.
  6. abruptly
    quickly and without warning
    I don’t like to waste time, so when I at last turned around, I did so abruptly and asked directly, “Are you the children who have been missing from Greenwich for a week?”
  7. stall
    deliberately delay an event or action
    “Is your butler calling the police while you stall us here?”
  8. stammer
    speak haltingly
    “We want to know about the statue,” Jamie stammered.
  9. donate
    give to a charity or good cause
    “Why did you sell her?” Claudia asked pointing to the picture of Angel.
    “Because I don’t like to donate things.”
    “If I owned such a lovely statue, I’d never sell it. Or donate it either.
  10. frantic
    excessively agitated; distraught with violent emotion
    “If you hadn’t been so busy looking at your picture in the paper, you could have read that they are nearly frantic.”
  11. carve
    engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface
    We’re going home anyway as soon as you tell us if Michelangelo carved Angel.
  12. emerge
    come out of
    He emerged from the bathroom long before Claudia and growing impatient, began wandering through rooms until he found Hortense and asked her the whereabouts of his sister.
  13. manage
    handle effectively
    I managed the money. She’s big on ideas, but she’s also big on spending money. I managed fine until today. Now we’re broke.
  14. summon
    call in an official matter, such as to attend court
    I summoned Parks; he appeared bearing a silver casserole.
  15. trappings
    ornaments; embellishments to or characteristic signs of
    “You see,” I laughed, “under the fancy trappings, I’m just a plain lady.”
  16. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    “Call up your family,” I suggested. “They’ll come for you.”
    “Oh, it’s so hard to explain over the phone. It will cause so much commotion.”
    I was astounded. “You still don’t think you’ve caused any commotion so far?”
  17. charity
    a kindly and lenient attitude toward people
    I felt I had to help the child. Don’t laugh as you read this, Saxonberg; I do have some charity in me.
  18. involved
    connected by participation or association or use
    “How did Angel become involved with your running away?”
  19. handicap
    something immaterial that delays action or progress
    “Those are my secrets. In one of them is the secret of Michelangelo’s Angel. I’ll share that secret with you as the rest of my bargain. But now my information is more important than yours. So you must have a handicap. The handicap is that you must find the secret file yourselves, and you have one hour to do it in.”
  20. saunter
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    Claudia was no longer in a hurry; she sauntered over to a table, carefully laid down the file, smoothed her skirt under her, and sat in a chair.
  21. sketch
    preliminary drawing for later elaboration
    For there, in the midst of sketches of hands and torsos was a sketch of someone they knew: Angel.
  22. trance
    a state resembling deep sleep
    Claudia said nothing and nothing and nothing. She continued clutching the drawing to her chest and rocking it back and forth. She appeared to be in a trance.
  23. gratitude
    a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation
    “I’ll bet you helped some rich Italian nobleman or some descendant of Michelangelo’s to escape, and he gave you the sketch out of his undying gratitude.”
  24. admiration
    a feeling of delighted approval and liking
    “You won it at cards?” I could see admiration grow in Jamie’s eyes.
  25. bribe
    make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
    “Bribery!” he exclaimed. “You’re going to bribe us. Hallelujah! Tell me. I’m ready. What’s the deal?”
  26. hodgepodge
    a motley assortment of things
    “There’s a lifetime of secrets in those files. But there’s also just a lot of newspaper clippings. Junk. It’s a hodgepodge. Like my art collection. Now, you’ll tell me all about your running away, and I’ll add that to my files.”
  27. inherit
    obtain from someone after their death
    If you and Jamie want to give it to the museum after you inherit it, then you give it to the museum. I won’t let the museum people near here.
  28. authenticity
    undisputed credibility
    What they’ll do is start investigating the authenticity of the sketch.
  29. analyze
    make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical study of
    They’ll analyze the ink. And the paper. They’ll research all his illustrated notes and compare, compare, compare. In short, they’ll make a science of it.
  30. forgery
    a copy that is represented as the original
    “But, Mrs. Frankweiler, if there is the slightest doubt that either the statue or the sketch is a forgery, don’t you want to know? Don’t you want the last little bit of doubt cleared up?”
  31. caper
    a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement
    You must tell me all about your adventure. All, all, all about it. What you thought and what you said and how you managed to carry off the whole crazy caper.
  32. preoccupied
    having excessive or compulsive concern with something
    It was my deck of cards; but I was somewhat preoccupied listening to Claudia and interrupting her with questions.
  33. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    Mrs. Kincaid kept asking if they were bruised or maimed.
  34. account
    a short report of the news
    I think she has read too many accounts of lost children in the newspapers.
  35. stake
    the money risked on a gamble
    I wanted all sides of the bargain kept, and I had to get my information. Besides I had promised them a ride home in the Rolls Royce, and I never cheat when the stakes are high.
  36. theatrical
    suited to or characteristic of the stage
    Finally, I scolded him, “You’re not Sir Laurence Olivier playing Hamlet, you know. All I want are the facts and how you felt. Not a theatrical production.”
  37. accurate
    characterized by perfect conformity to fact or truth
    “You want me to be accurate, don’t you?”
  38. deceased
    dead
    “She’s too old to be a mother. She said so herself. Besides, we already have one.”
    “She’ll become our grandmother, then, since ours are deceased.”
  39. neglect
    fail to do something; leave something undone
    The children, madam, neglected to say thank you.
  40. bequeath
    leave or give, especially by will after one's death
    Rewrite my will with a clause about my bequeathing the drawing to them.
Created on Thu Sep 14 18:37:24 EDT 2017 (updated Thu Sep 21 09:53:35 EDT 2017)

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