Part III, Chapter 18: "After Apple-Picking" by Robert Frost

As the speaker of this meditative poem falls asleep, past and present begin to blend together with thoughts about a day spent picking apples. Read the poem here.

Here are links to our lists for other poems by Robert Frost: "The Death of the Hired Man", "Mending Wall", "Out, Out—", "Birches"
17 words 214 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. barrel
    a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends
    My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
    Toward heaven still,
    And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
    Beside it, and there may be two or three
    Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
  2. bough
    any of the larger branches of a tree
    My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
    Toward heaven still,
    And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
    Beside it, and there may be two or three
    Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
  3. essence
    the choicest or most vital part of some idea or experience
    Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
    The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
  4. skim
    remove from the surface
    I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
    I got from looking through a pane of glass
    I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
    And held against the world of hoary grass.
  5. trough
    a long narrow shallow receptacle
    I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
    I got from looking through a pane of glass
    I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
    And held against the world of hoary grass.
  6. hoary
    having gray or white hair as with age
    I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
    I got from looking through a pane of glass
    I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
    And held against the world of hoary grass.
  7. magnify
    increase in size, volume or significance
    Magnified apples appear and disappear,
    Stem end and blossom end,
    And every fleck of russet showing clear.
  8. fleck
    a small contrasting part of something
    Magnified apples appear and disappear,
    Stem end and blossom end,
    And every fleck of russet showing clear.
  9. russet
    of brown with a reddish tinge
    Magnified apples appear and disappear,
    Stem end and blossom end,
    And every fleck of russet showing clear.
  10. arch
    a curved bony structure
    My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
    It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
  11. pressure
    the act of putting pressure on something
    My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
    It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
  12. sway
    move back and forth
    I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
  13. cellar
    a room that is partly or wholly below ground level
    And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
    The rumbling sound
    Of load on load of apples coming in.
  14. cherish
    be fond of
    There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
    Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
  15. bruise
    damage (plant tissue) by abrasion or pressure
    For all
    That struck the earth,
    No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
    Went surely to the cider-apple heap
    As of no worth.
  16. stubble
    material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem
    For all
    That struck the earth,
    No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
    Went surely to the cider-apple heap
    As of no worth.
  17. woodchuck
    a reddish brown North American rodent
    Were he not gone,
    The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
    Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
    Or just some human sleep.
Created on Mon Nov 20 10:10:19 EST 2017 (updated Tue Nov 28 13:32:11 EST 2017)

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.