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Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" Chapter 1 48 words

Vocabulary study list for Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (Chapter 1).

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  1. milk thistle
    any of several Old World coarse prickly-leaved shrubs and subshrubs having milky juice and yellow flowers; widely naturalized; often noxious weeds in cultivated soil
    And the first boy, with hair as blond-white as milk thistle, shut up one eye, tilted his head, and looked at the salesman with a single eye as open, bright and clear as a drop of summer rain.
  2. lightning rod
    a metallic conductor that is attached to a high point and leads to the ground; protects the building from destruction by lightning
    The seller of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm.
  3. ironmongery
    the merchandise that is sold in an ironmonger's shop
    So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.
  4. curlicue
    a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals)
    Around the rim of the main rod little curlicues and doohingies had been soldered on, later.
  5. roast pork
    cut of pork suitable for roasting
    Fire and ash, roast pork and cinders!
  6. snuff out
    put an end to; kill
    Some snuff out.
  7. hex
    an evil spell
    Boys, you got to be ready in every dialect with every shape and form to hex the St. Elmo's fires, the balls of blue light that prowl the earth like sizzling cats.
  8. pictograph
    a graphic character used in picture writing
    The entire surface of the rod was finely scratched and etched with strange languages, names that could tie the tongue or break the jaw, numerals that added to incomprehensible sums, pictographs of insect-animals all bristle, chaff, and claw.
  9. sizzle
    make a sound like frying fat
    Boys, you got to be ready in every dialect with every shape and form to hex the St. Elmo's fires, the balls of blue light that prowl the earth like sizzling cats.
  10. scarab
    scarabaeid beetle considered divine by ancient Egyptians
    "Scarab beetle."
  11. river bottom
    a channel occupied (or formerly occupied) by a river
    One of those attics is a dry river bottom, itching to let lightning pour through!
  12. solder
    join or fuse with solder
    Around the rim of the main rod little curlicues and doohingies had been soldered on, later.
  13. polarity
    a relation between two opposite attributes or tendencies
    Some folks' polarities are negative, some positive.
  14. oversized
    larger than normal for its kind
    So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.
  15. sass
    an impudent or insolent rejoinder
    I got the only lightning rods in the world that hear, feel, know, and sass back any storm, no matter what tongue, voice, or sign.
  16. jangle
    make a sound typical of metallic objects
    So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.
  17. rummage
    search haphazardly
    The man, grieved by his own conscientiousness, rummaged in his leathery bag and seized forth an iron contraption.
  18. conscientiousness
    the trait of being painstaking and careful
    The man, grieved by his own conscientiousness, rummaged in his leathery bag and seized forth an iron contraption.
  19. contraption
    a device or control that is very useful for a particular job
    The man, grieved by his own conscientiousness, rummaged in his leathery bag and seized forth an iron contraption.
  20. Choctaw
    a member of the Muskhogean people formerly living in Alabama
    "Why the Egyptian, Arabic, Abyssinian, Choctaw?
  21. howdy
    an expression of greeting
    "Howdy, boys!" called the man all dressed in stormcolored clothes.
  22. sizzling
    hot enough to burn with or as if with a hissing sound
    Boys, you got to be ready in every dialect with every shape and form to hex the St. Elmo's fires, the balls of blue light that prowl the earth like sizzling cats.
  23. leathery
    resembling or made to resemble leather; tough but pliable
    The man, grieved by his own conscientiousness, rummaged in his leathery bag and seized forth an iron contraption.
  24. Abyssinian
    a small slender short-haired breed of African origin having brownish fur with a reddish undercoat
    "Why the Egyptian, Arabic, Abyssinian, Choctaw?
  25. stomp
    walk heavily
    Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth.
  26. uncertainly
    showing lack of certainty
    So much the salesman, running before the storm, but poised here uncertainly, heard looking from face to face.
  27. fingerprint
    a print made by an impression of the ridges in the skin of a finger; often used for biometric identification in criminal investigations
    Of a like size and general shape, the boys sat carving twig whistles, talking of olden or future times, content with having left their fingerprints on every movable object in Green Town during summer past and their footprints on every open path bet
  28. etch
    carve or cut a design or letters into
    The entire surface of the rod was finely scratched and etched with strange languages, names that could tie the tongue or break the jaw, numerals that added to incomprehensible sums, pictographs of insect-animals all bristle, chaff, and claw.
  29. numeral
    of or relating to or denoting numbers
    The entire surface of the rod was finely scratched and etched with strange languages, names that could tie the tongue or break the jaw, numerals that added to incomprehensible sums, pictographs of insect-animals all bristle, chaff, and claw.
  30. sniff
    perceive by inhaling through the nose
    He turned slowly, sniffing the air.
  31. rift
    a narrow fissure in rock
    Sunlight, breaking through a small rift in the clouds, minted a last few oak leaves all gold.
  32. bristle
    a stiff hair
    The entire surface of the rod was finely scratched and etched with strange languages, names that could tie the tongue or break the jaw, numerals that added to incomprehensible sums, pictographs of insect-animals all bristle, chaff, and claw.
  33. chaff
    material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds
    The entire surface of the rod was finely scratched and etched with strange languages, names that could tie the tongue or break the jaw, numerals that added to incomprehensible sums, pictographs of insect-animals all bristle, chaff, and claw.
  34. Phoenician
    of or relating to or characteristic of Phoenicia or its inhabitants
    "And those there -- Phoenician hen tracks."
  35. movable
    capable of being moved or conveyed from one place to another
    Of a like size and general shape, the boys sat carving twig whistles, talking of olden or future times, content with having left their fingerprints on every movable object in Green Town during summer past and their footprints on every open path bet
  36. conjure
    summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic
    So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.
  37. hunch
    an impression that something might be the case
    "Well --" The salesman walked about three feet, stopped and hunched his shoulders.
  38. cinder
    a fragment of incombustible matter left after a wood or coal or charcoal fire
    Fire and ash, roast pork and cinders!
  39. poise
    hold or carry in equilibrium
    So much the salesman, running before the storm, but poised here uncertainly, heard looking from face to face.
  40. squint
    partly close one's eyes, as when hit by direct blinding light
    Jim squinted.
  41. flinch
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    The salesman almost flinched.
  42. carve
    engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface
    Of a like size and general shape, the boys sat carving twig whistles, talking of olden or future times, content with having left their fingerprints on every movable object in Green Town during summer past and their footprints on every open path bet
  43. olden
    long past
    Of a like size and general shape, the boys sat carving twig whistles, talking of olden or future times, content with having left their fingerprints on every movable object in Green Town during summer past and their footprints on every open path bet
  44. clang
    a loud resonant repeating noise
    So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.
  45. prowl
    move about in or as if in a predatory manner
    Boys, you got to be ready in every dialect with every shape and form to hex the St. Elmo's fires, the balls of blue light that prowl the earth like sizzling cats.
  46. incomprehensible
    difficult to understand
    The entire surface of the rod was finely scratched and etched with strange languages, names that could tie the tongue or break the jaw, numerals that added to incomprehensible sums, pictographs of insect-animals all bristle, chaff, and claw.
  47. excitedly
    with excitement; in an excited manner
    So much Will said, excitedly.
  48. break through
    pass through (a barrier)
    Sunlight, breaking through a small rift in the clouds, minted a last few oak leaves all gold.