Ambushed!: Chapters 8–11

by Gail Jarrow
In this nonfiction book, Gail Jarrow chronicles the life of James Garfield, detailing Garfield's early life, his rise to become the 20th president of the United States, and the events and aftermath of his assassination.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–7, Chapters 8–11, Chapters 12–16
40 words 13 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. probe
    surgical instrument used to explore wounds or body cavities
    “In many cases the best probe is the surgeon’s finger.”
    —Dr. S. D. Gross, A Manual of Military Surgery, 1861
  2. prod
    poke or thrust abruptly
    After an agonizing hour of doctors poking and prodding, eight men carried Garfield on the mattress through the train station to the exit.
  3. steward
    someone who manages property or affairs for someone else
    Stunned, Joseph Stanley Brown pulled himself together and instructed the steward to fix up a bedroom.
  4. turmoil
    a violent disturbance
    The streets were in turmoil, with people and carriages racing about.
  5. reconvene
    meet or cause to meet again
    On Saturday evening, a group of eight physicians, most of whom had been at the train station, reconvened to discuss the case.
  6. formidable
    inspiring fear or dread
    Bliss responded, “Your injury is formidable. In my judgment, you have a chance for recovery.”
  7. assert
    claim to be true
    Another asserted that the bullet was inside Garfield's liver, where it would kill him either by infection or bleeding.
  8. quack
    an untrained person who pretends to be a physician
    Homeopathy is a type of medicine that rejects the use of harsh chemicals and other techniques. In 1881, many traditional doctors considered homeopaths to be quacks employing useless and sometimes dangerous medicines.
  9. ordeal
    a severe or trying experience
    Throughout Garfield's ordeal, at least one of the doctors or these nursing attendants stayed by his side.
  10. precarious
    fraught with danger
    Though she was still fatigued from her bout with malaria, she impressed everyone with her strength and courage as she dealt with Garfield's precarious condition.
  11. resentment
    a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
    In a veiled reference to Conkling and the Stalwarts, the New York Times said, "His [Guiteau's] resentment was inflamed and intensified by the assaults upon the President which have been common in too many circles for the past few months.”
  12. deplore
    express strong disapproval of
    Arthur didn't want to appear eager to take over the presidency, especially in light of the accusations and criticisms of him in the newspapers. He released sincere public statements deploring the shooting and condemning it as evil.
  13. attribute
    explain or regard as resulting from a particular cause
    He wasn't paralyzed, indicating that his spinal cord was intact. The doctors attributed the tingling pains in his feet and legs to temporary nerve injury.
  14. subdued
    restrained in style or quality
    July Fourth festivities on Monday were subdued as Americans waited to learn whether their president had survived the assassin's bullet.
  15. dignitary
    an important or influential person
    Telegrams and letters from both famous dignitaries and ordinary citizens flooded the White House with heartfelt wishes for Garfield's recovery.
  16. quinine
    a bitter extract from cinchona bark, used to treat malaria
    Garfield was regularly given morphine injections as well as quinine by mouth.
  17. tonic
    a medicine that strengthens and invigorates
    His doctors used quinine as a tonic that would lower his fever and help heal his wounds. The only thing it could do effectively, however, was to treat malaria, which Garfield didn't have.
  18. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    Most American physicians considered pus to be a sign that the body was healing itself, and they weren't concerned. They didn't realize that pus was ominous evidence of a bacterial infection.
  19. revile
    spread negative information about
    He was certain the public would hail him as a patriot for saving the country. Instead, he was reviled. Newspapers called him “a wretch who represents as distinctly the evil in our system as President GARFIELD represents the good.”
  20. emaciated
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    One reporter who spotted Guiteau at police headquarters after the shooting described him as “a pale, emaciated, small man, with the appearance of an insane person.”
  21. sweltering
    excessively hot and humid; marked by sweating and faintness
    During the first days after the shooting, newspapers reported that Garfield's room was sweltering. Often the president ran a fever, and the room's high temperature increased his suffering.
  22. trough
    a long narrow shallow receptacle
    Troughs of ice water were placed around the room.
  23. fervent
    characterized by intense emotion
    "The heart of a great people beat with a single pulse, and a nation awoke at morning with the fervent hope that the President still lived.”
  24. influx
    the process of flowing in
    They both helped Brown with the influx of messages, telegrams, and letters and with the outgoing medical bulletins.
  25. scaffold
    a platform from which criminals are executed
    Hate mail addressed to him flooded the warden's office. One contained a drawing of a scaffold from which a man labeled "Guiteau” hangs.
  26. glean
    collect or gather bit by bit, especially information
    Despite the news blackout, Guiteau gleaned information about the president's medical progress from the guards.
  27. neutralize
    make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of
    Instead, the surgeons believed that infections came from foul air, called miasma, which contained poisons given off by rotting plant or animal material. To neutralize the poisons, military hospitals sprayed the chemicals in the air and on smelly body waste.
  28. scrupulously
    with careful attention and effort to do something correctly
    Doctors often skipped the step of scrupulously washing their hands and fingernails with soap and water before treating a wound or performing surgery.
  29. thoroughly
    in an exhaustive manner
    Eleven years
 later, however, he admitted that the method of surgical care “was not so thoroughly appreciated or carried out by operating surgeons in 1881 as it is in 1892.”
  30. profusely
    in very large amounts or quantities; extremely
    The other doctors said that he had been perspiring profusely throughout the night.
  31. ether
    a highly inflammable liquid formerly used as an anesthetic
    Agnew did the cutting, with Hamilton assisting. They sprayed Garfield's skin with ether, but it wasn't enough to completely dull the pain.
  32. cadaver
    the dead body of a human being
    A New York medical school professor performed an experiment to track the bullet's probable path. Using a gun like Guiteau’s, he shot into human cadavers that were about the size of James Garfield. Then he dissected the bodies.
  33. induction
    an electrical phenomenon generating an electromotive force
    Alexander Graham Bell, famous for inventing the telephone five years earlier, suggested using induction balance, with which he had worked while perfecting his invention.
  34. apparatus
    equipment designed to serve a specific function
    The induction-balance apparatus used coils of electricity-conducting wire to detect metal. Bell thought he could modify the device to find the bullet in Garfield's body.
  35. robust
    sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
    In the six weeks since the shooting, Garfield had lost nearly 80 pounds and changed from a robust and slightly overweight man weighing 210 pounds to a skeletal figure.
  36. abscess
    a localized collection of pus surrounded by inflamed tissue
    Abscesses the size of peas appeared in his armpits and on his chest and back.
  37. laden
    filled with a great quantity
    The doctors cut them open, letting their bacteria- laden contents flow out of Garfield's body.
  38. chastise
    scold or criticize severely
    Garfield's abscesses and worsening condition were signs that poor treatment had led to blood poisoning. Bliss denied this and chastised those who offered an opinion even though they weren't on the case.
  39. detractor
    one who disparages or belittles the worth of something
    Articles accused their detractors of basing comments on brief medical bulletins and newspaper reports, hardly enough to make a diagnosis.
  40. besmirch
    charge falsely or with malicious intent
    The critics were jealous, the articles said, and looking for ways to besmirch the respected surgeons involved in Garfield's care.
Created on Mon May 02 12:57:45 EDT 2022 (updated Fri May 06 15:09:39 EDT 2022)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.