Crime and Punishment Part 2, Pevear and Volokhonsky trans.

MJKubus (United States of America)
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abashed
    feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious
    They are aggressive and kind, free of sharp elbows, comfortable revealing and being abashed by their transgressions.
    96

    word origin: Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French abaiss-; compare with Old French esbaiss-, lengthened stem of esbair, from es- ‘utterly’ + bair ‘astound’.
  2. abject
    of the most contemptible kind
    Nothing else—not Clinton’s poor answers for her private speeches, nor Trump’s abject ignorance—comes close.
    103

    word origin: Late Middle English (in the sense ‘rejected’): from Latin abjectus, past participle of abicere ‘reject’, from ab- ‘away’ + jacere ‘to throw’.
  3. bedizen
    decorate tastelessly
    Look across now to Egypt and we find monuments and tombs literally bedizened with the cross, and that too in a variety of shapes.
    96

    word origin: Mid 17th century: from be- (as an intensifier) + obsolete dizen ‘deck out’, probably of Dutch origin.
  4. burrow
    a hole made by an animal, usually for shelter
    Officials estimate 15% of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing six metres deep.
    102
  5. clamor
    utter or proclaim insistently and noisily
    There is no clamor for ending DACA, which polls suggest enjoys broad public support.
    117

    word origin: Late Middle English: via Old French from Latin clamor, from clamare ‘cry out’.
  6. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    In February of this year, Charlottesville joined many other American communities in deciding to get rid of conspicuous memorials to the Confederacy.
    95

    word origin: Mid 16th century: from Latin conspicuus (from conspicere ‘look at attentively’, from con- (expressing intensive force) + spicere ‘look at’) + -ous.
  7. curt
    brief and to the point
    Khan is being quizzed by the London Assembly, and he is curt, tetchy, resentful.
    106

    word origin: Late Middle English (in the sense ‘short, shortened’): from Latin curtus ‘cut short, abridged’.
  8. debauchery
    a wild gathering
    In the second scene of “Prodigal Son,” the title character spends his patrimony on debauchery.
    99

    word origin: Late 16th century: from French débaucher (verb) ‘turn away from one's duty’, from Old French desbaucher, of uncertain ultimate origin.
  9. defiant
    boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
    The former Arizona sheriff struck a defiant tone in insisting he “didn’t do anything wrong” and questioning whether his judge was fair.
    92

    word origin: Middle English (in the senses ‘renounce an allegiance’ and ‘challenge to combat’): from Old French desfier, based on Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + fidus ‘faithful’.
  10. delirium
    a usually brief state of excitement and mental confusion
    In my delirium, I imagined death in the form of a great bird with wings of fire and shadow.
    107, 127

    word origin: Mid 16th century: from Latin, from delirare ‘deviate, be deranged’ (literally ‘deviate from the furrow’), from de- ‘away’ + lira ‘ridge between furrows’.
  11. effusion
    an unrestrained expression of emotion
    Genre fiction, especially children’s literature, abounds in this sort of effusion, but adults are supposed to keep it out of “proper” writing.
    103

    word origin: Late Middle English: from Latin effusio(n-), from effundere ‘pour out’ (see effuse).
  12. emblem
    special design representing a quality, type, or group
    And for the first time in human history, “fatness” became “an emblem of poverty and failure.”
    124

    word origin: Late 16th century (as a verb): from Latin emblema ‘inlaid work, raised ornament’, from Greek emblēma ‘insertion’, from emballein ‘throw in, insert’, from em- ‘in’ + ballein ‘to throw’.
  13. feigned
    not genuine
    Sessions didn't "disassemble", he lied, and feigned memory loss to avoid lying and answering questions under oath.
    145

    word origin: Middle English: from Old French feign-, stem of feindre, from Latin fingere ‘mould, contrive’. Senses in Middle English (taken from Latin) included ‘make something’, ‘invent a story, excuse, or allegation’, hence ‘make a pretence of a feeling or response’. Compare with fiction and figment.
  14. foist
    force onto another
    A tax cut is no tax cut at all, if it just foists the cost on to local property owners.
    word origin: Mid 16th century (in the sense ‘palm a false die, so as to produce it at the right moment’): from Dutch dialect vuisten ‘take in the hand’, from vuist (see fist).
  15. frenzy
    state of violent mental agitation
    After each round of rifle fire, people push and shove one another in a panicked frenzy trying to evacuate the city.
    90

    word origin: Middle English: from Old French frenesie, from medieval Latin phrenesia, from Latin phrenesis, from Greek phrēn ‘mind’.
  16. giddy
    having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling
    Investors seemed to believe him—his election prompted a giddy “Trump bump” in the stockmarket—and corporate bosses flocked to his side.
    154

    word origin: Old English gidig ‘insane’, literally ‘possessed by a god’, from the base of God. Current senses date from late Middle English.
  17. glum
    moody and sorrowful
    But if you are a Republican senator looking for good news in this report, there are many more reasons to be glum than cheerful.
    110

    word origin: Mid 16th century: related to dialect glum ‘to frown’, variant of gloom.
  18. guffaw
    a burst of loud and hearty laughter
    A judge later called the episode “a Keystone Kops thing” and jurors guffawed as a federal agent described it.
    157

    word origin: Early 18th century (originally Scots): imitative.
  19. hewn
    cut or shaped with hard blows of a heavy cutting instrument like an ax or chisel
    Some are no more than dimly lighted tunnels where passers-by brush shoulders between walls of ancient cobbles or roughly hewn bricks.
    108
  20. insolent
    marked by casual disrespect
    “Trump’s is the gravest and most insolent threat ever voiced against the homeland of Bolívar,” tweeted Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas.
    96

    word origin: Late Middle English (also in the sense ‘extravagant, going beyond acceptable limits’): from Latin insolent- ‘immoderate, unaccustomed, arrogant’, from in- ‘not’ + solent- ‘being accustomed’ (from the verb solere).
  21. languid
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    The city’s usual languid pleasures were punctuated by visible signs of heightened security.
    131
  22. licentious
    lacking moral discipline
    The gangster of the ’30s belonged to an era of licentious chaos.
    151

    word origin: Late Middle English: from Latin licentiosus, from licentia ‘freedom’.
  23. loaf
    be lazy or idle
    Traveling while loafing, like Whitman had, as she prepared for the real thing.
    156
  24. magnanimous
    noble and generous in spirit
    She conceded that the party hadn't lived up to expectations UK-wide, was magnanimous towards her opponents and talked of building consensus.
    181

    word origin: Mid 16th century: from Latin magnanimus (from magnus ‘great’ + animus ‘soul’) + -ous.
  25. metaphysics
    the philosophical study of being and knowing
    "Whenever you get two people interpreting the same data in different ways," he said, "that's metaphysics."
    124

    word origin: Mid 16th century: representing medieval Latin metaphysica (neuter plural), based on Greek ta meta ta phusika ‘the things after the Physics’, referring to the sequence of Aristotle's works: the title came to denote the branch of study treated in the books, later interpreted as meaning ‘the science of things transcending what is physical or natural’.
  26. peevish
    easily irritated or annoyed
    It all sounded peevish and self-regarding at the time, and offered little to the majority of non-business-owning voters who just want a decent job.
    133
  27. physiognomy
    the human face
    Noah’s daughters-in-law, unnamed in the Bible, are each assigned a different race to explain the varying physiognomy of the world’s inhabitants.
    96
  28. pretentious
    creating an appearance of importance or distinction
    It may be hard for tolerant, art-loving souls to resist the urge to groan when reading pretentious titles for artworks.
    131
  29. prim
    affectedly dainty or refined
    In court, women are often told to dress conservatively, or appear quiet and prim.
    143
  30. provincial
    associated with an administrative district of a nation
    The provincial New England that Erica inhabits is not unlike the dead-end environs of an Annie Baker play.
    133
  31. rave
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
    Readers rave about gift of eclipse glasses, rant about wait staff not writing down order.
    111

    word origin: Middle English (in the sense ‘show signs of madness’): probably from Old Northern French raver; related obscurely to Middle Low German reven ‘be senseless, rave’.
  32. samovar
    a metal urn with a spigot at the base
    Passengers, in their standard issue grey and red Russian Railways sandals, flip-flopped back and forth to the samovar for hot water to make tea.
    154

    word origin: Russian, literally ‘self-boiler’.
  33. scoundrel
    someone who does evil deliberately
    Is Pete Rose an irredeemable scoundrel, and should he join you in the Hall of Fame?
    158
  34. scrivener
    someone employed to make written copies of documents and manuscripts
    “Within a few years, the position of copyist, scribe, or scrivener disappeared,” says Frank Romano, president of the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Mass.
    94
  35. stifling
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    Stifling temperatures and the smoky pall of wildfires marked an unofficial end to summer across the U.S.
    94

    word origin: Late Middle English: perhaps from a frequentative of Old French estouffer ‘smother, stifle’.
  36. stupefied
    as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise
    So dramatic was their resurrection that stupefied doctors began calling it the Lazarus effect.
    89

    word origin: Late Middle English: from French stupéfier, from Latin stupefacere, from stupere ‘be struck senseless’.
  37. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    At home, Nour’s older brother is a sullen bully, whose resentment occasionally spills over into physical violence.
    131

    word origin: Middle English (in the senses ‘solitary, averse to company’, and ‘unusual’): from Anglo-Norman French sulein, from sol ‘sole’.
  38. surmise
    infer from incomplete evidence
    On Monday, hundreds of civilians, who officials surmised were mostly the families of Islamic State fighters, cowered with the fierce fighting happening only yards away.
    94
  39. vouch
    give personal assurance; guarantee
    That program coordinates with colleges and universities so that school administrators vouch for the foreign students attending their schools.
    125

    word origin: Middle English (as a legal term in the sense ‘summon a person to court to prove title to property’): from Old French voucher ‘summon’, based on Latin vocare ‘to call’.
  40. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    Also, in such a highly competitive environment, people are keen to show allegiance to their superiors and wary of criticising them.
    142
Created on Fri Sep 08 14:46:23 EDT 2017 (updated Sun Sep 10 13:22:54 EDT 2017)

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