Song of Solomon: Chapters 10–15

by Toni Morrison
Rich with allusions to the Bible and Greek mythology, Toni Morrison's coming-of-age novel tells the story of Milkman's journey to find his roots.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–2, Chapters 3–4, Chapters 5–9, Chapters 10–15

Here are links to our lists for other works by Toni Morrison: Sula, The Bluest Eye, Beloved
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. chasten
    censure severely
    No one was there to warn or hold them; their parents, chastened and grieving, were far away.
  2. assuage
    satisfy, as thirst
    A grown man can also be energized by hunger, and any weakness in his knees or irregularity in his heartbeat will disappear if he thinks his hunger is about to be assuaged.
  3. raucous
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    He could just as easily have said twenty minutes, and now that he was alone, assaulted by what city people regard as raucous silence, he wished he had said five minutes.
  4. irrevocable
    incapable of being retracted
    There was no real anger and nothing irrevocable was said.
  5. fracas
    a noisy, angry argument or fight between people
    They started a fracas.
  6. consternation
    sudden shock or dismay that causes confusion
    “Not yet,” she said, and when she saw his consternation she explained that farm kids drove early—they had to.
  7. repel
    fill with distaste
    It must have been beautiful, must have seemed like a palace to them, but neither had ever spoken of it in any terms but how imprisoned they felt, how difficult it was to see the sky from their room, how repelled they were by the carpets, the draperies.
  8. rife
    excessively abundant
    A hairy animal smell, ripe, rife, suffocating.
  9. wizened
    lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
    She had dainty habits which matched her torn and filthy clothes in precisely the way her strong young cultivated voice matched her wizened face.
  10. wayward
    resistant to guidance or discipline
    Her white hair—braided, perhaps; perhaps not—she touched as though replacing a wayward strand from an elegant coiffure.
  11. rebuff
    reject outright and bluntly
    Rebuffed from his fine feelings, Milkman matched her cold tone: “You loved those white folks that much?”
  12. gingerly
    with extreme care or delicacy
    Gingerly, he parted the brush and walked a little way into the woods.
  13. ravenous
    extremely hungry
    He was not only ravenous; his feet hurt.
  14. exertion
    use of physical or mental energy; hard work
    Just left. If you run you can catch him,” the man said. He wiped the sweat of exertion from his forehead.
  15. morale
    a state of individual psychological well-being
    By the time he bought the car, his morale had soared and he was beginning to enjoy the trip: his ability to get information and help from strangers, their attraction to him, their generosity
  16. dawdle
    hang or fall in movement, progress, development, etc.
    Along with waiting for him and waiting for some way to get a new fan belt, he had a legitimate reason to dawdle.
  17. fervor
    the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up
    He left cursing Milkman, but his fervor was gone.
  18. congenial
    suitable to your needs
    Calvin seemed to be the most congenial of them, and followed the introductions with a command to King Walker to “get this city boy some shoes for his feet.”
  19. rummage
    search haphazardly
    King rummaged around, spitting tobacco, and came up with some mud-caked brogans.
  20. hobble
    walk unevenly due to pain, injury, or weakness
    At last he surrendered to his fatigue and made the mistake of sitting down instead of slowing down, for when he got up again, the rest had given his feet an opportunity to hurt him and the pain in his short leg was so great he began to limp and hobble.
  21. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    But something had maimed him, scarred him like Reverend Cooper’s knot, like Saul’s missing teeth, and like his own father.
  22. sternum
    the breastbone
    Calvin held the forefeet open and up while Omar pierced the curling hair at the point where the sternum lay.
  23. gossamer
    a gauze fabric with an extremely fine texture
    The transparent underskin tore like gossamer under his fingers.
  24. deft
    skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
    Luther came back and, while the others rested, carved out the rectal tube with the deft motions of a man coring an apple.
  25. smattering
    a small number or amount
    But he didn’t think Guitar would jump him in the daytime on a winding path (which they called a road) that cut through hilly land that was nevertheless tilled and had a smattering of houses and people.
  26. celibate
    abstaining from sexual intercourse
    The best years of her life, from age twenty to forty, had been celibate, and aside from the consummation that began his own life, the rest of her life had been the same.
  27. deprivation
    the disadvantage that results from losing something
    He hadn’t thought much of it when she’d told him, but now it seemed to him that such sexual deprivation would affect her, hurt her in precisely the way it would affect and hurt him.
  28. primeval
    having existed from the beginning
    Myrurgia for primeval woman who creates for him a world of tender privacy where the only occupant is you, mixed with Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps.
  29. prosperous
    in fortunate circumstances financially
    It was Marcelline who kept the shop prosperous.
  30. sluice
    pour as if from a conduit that carries a rapid flow of water
    Loafers sluicing, hair dripping, holding her purchases in her arms, she made it into the bedroom and shut the door.
  31. bereaved
    sorrowful through loss or deprivation
    Two days later, halfway through the service, it seemed as though Ruth was going to be the lone member of the bereaved family there.
  32. languorous
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    It was strange, the languorous, limp hand coming to rest at her side while her breathing was coming so quick and fast.
  33. interment
    the ritual placing of a corpse in a grave
    They looked a long time for an area of earth among the rock faces large enough for the interment.
  34. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    He dropped to his knees and cradled her lolling head in the crook of his arm, barking at her, “You hurt?
  35. fleet
    moving very fast
    As fleet and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arms of his brother.
Created on Wed Oct 23 19:21:57 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Aug 06 16:34:33 EDT 2018)

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