The Ballad of Reading Gaol, by Oscar Wilde

PickledOnion42 (Jersey)
43 words 11 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. accursed
    under or as if under an evil spell
    "... the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate / That makes a man accursed"
  2. arabesque
    position in which the dancer has one leg raised behind
    "... the damned grotesques made arabesques, / Like the wind upon the sand!"
  3. brackish
    slightly salty
    "The brackish water that we drink / Creeps with a loathsome slime"
  4. casque
    any armor for the head; usually ornate without a visor
    "... the sky above my head became / Like a casque of scorching steel"
  5. changeling
    a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
    "... / Those witless men who dare / To try to rear the changeling Hope / In the cave of black Despair"
  6. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    "... a broken and a contrite heart / The Lord will not despise"
  7. fawning
    attempting to win favor by flattery
    "... with subtle sneer, and fawning leer, / Each helped us at our prayers"
  8. fen
    low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation
    "We were as men who through a fen / Of filthy darkness grope"
  9. fetid
    offensively malodorous
    "... the fetid breath of living Death / Chokes up each grated screen"
  10. fetter
    a shackle for the ankles or feet
    "... / He lies, with fetters on each foot, / Wrapt in a sheet of flame!"
  11. frolic
    light-hearted recreational activity for amusement
    "No things of air these antics were, / That frolicked with such glee"
  12. garish
    tastelessly showy
    "... / He looked upon the garish day / With such a wistful eye"
  13. grotesque
    distorted and unnatural in shape or size
    "... the damned grotesques made arabesques, / Like the wind upon the sand!"
  14. loathsome
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
    "The brackish water that we drink / Creeps with a loathsome slime"
  15. lofty
    of imposing height; especially standing out above others
    "The loftiest place is the seat of grace/ For which all worldlings try"
  16. marionette
    a figure operated from above with strings by a puppeteer
    "With the pirouettes of marionettes / They tripped on pointed tread"
  17. marred
    blemished by injury or rough wear
    "... by all forgot, we rot and rot, / With soul and body marred"
  18. masquerade
    a party of guests wearing costumes and disguises
    "... shaven head and feet of lead / Make a merry masquerade"
  19. nard
    an aromatic ointment used in antiquity
    "... filled the unclean leper's house / With the scent of costliest nard"
  20. pall
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    "... he has a pall, this wretched man, / Such as few men can claim"
  21. parricide
    the murder of your own father or mother
    "With iron heel it slays the strong, / The monstrous parricide!"
  22. pirouette
    a rapid spin of the body
    "With the pirouettes of marionettes, / They tripped on pointed tread"
  23. piteous
    deserving or inciting a feeling of sympathy and sorrow
    "He does not rise in piteous haste / To put on convict-clothes"
  24. ravel
    tangle or complicate
    "... at every wandering cloud that trailed / Its raveled fleeces by"
  25. reel
    revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
    "Dear Christ! the very prison walls / Suddenly seemed to reel"
  26. requiem
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    "They did not even toll / A requiem that might have brought / Rest to his startled soul"
  27. resolute
    firm in purpose or belief
    "His soul was resolute, and held / No hiding place for fear"
  28. rout
    a disorderly crowd of people
    "About, about, in ghostly rout / They trod a saraband"
  29. saraband
    a stately court dance of the 17th and 18th centuries
    "About, about, in ghostly rout / They trod a saraband"
  30. seneschal
    the servant in charge of all the staff at a large house
    O moaning wind! what had we done / To have such a seneschal?"
  31. smite
    inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon
    "With sudden shock the prison-clock / Smote on the shivering air"

    (Past tense of 'smite')
  32. sprite
    a small, mythological creature with wings and magical powers
    "... each evil sprite that walks by night / Before us seemed to play"
  33. surmise
    infer from incomplete evidence
    "... with curious eyes and sick surmise / We watched him night and day"
  34. throng
    a large gathering of people
    "He does not wake at dawn to see / Dread figures throng his room"
  35. tract
    a brief treatise on a subject of interest
    "... twice a day the Chaplain called / And left a little tract"
  36. tramp
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    "... once, as we tramped in from work, / We passed an open grave"
  37. tryst
    a secret rendezvous, especially a romantic one
    "... with formal pace and loathsome grace / The phantoms kept their tryst"
  38. vain
    unproductive of success
    "... makes it bleed great gouts of blood, / And makes it bleed in vain"
  39. vigil
    a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
    "... we - the fool, the fraud, the knave - / That endless vigil kept"
  40. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
    "I never saw sad men who looked / With such a wistful eye ..."
  41. witless
    lacking sense or understanding or judgment
    "Those witless men who dare / To try to rear the changeling Hope ..."
  42. wonted
    commonly used or practiced; usual
    "Out into God's sweet air we went, / But not in wonted way"
  43. worldling
    an inhabitant of the earth
    "The loftiest place is the seat of grace / For which all worldlings try"
Created on Wed Jul 25 13:37:07 EDT 2012 (updated Fri Aug 10 17:12:30 EDT 2012)

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