The Underground Railroad: Ridgeway - South Carolina

by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead's novel follows Cora, an enslaved woman, as she travels north in search of freedom. Infused with a hint of magical realism, this harrowing and groundbreaking book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Ajarry-Georgia, Ridgeway-South Carolina, Stevens-North Carolina, Ethel-Caesar, Indiana-The North
45 words 164 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. perquisite
    a right reserved exclusively by a person or group
    There were perquisites, apart from the thrill of shaming a man in front of his family or roughing up an unseasoned buck who squinted at you the wrong way.
  2. egregious
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    Ridgeway commanded his appetites in those days, withdrawing before his confederates’ more egregious displays.
  3. skinflint
    a selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend
    An absconded slave might fetch as little as two dollars if the owner was a skinflint...and as much as a hundred dollars, double that if captured out of state.
  4. garish
    tastelessly showy
    Even the shortest ferry ride delivered him to a new island nation, garish and imposing.
  5. brocade
    thick expensive material with a raised pattern
    The master and his sons laughed as he wiped his face, but the twenty dollars went to new boots and a brocade coat like he’d seen some worthies wear in D.C.
  6. gargantuan
    of great mass; huge and bulky
    Up north, the gargantuan metropolis, the liberty movement, and the ingenuity of the colored community all converged to portray the true scale of the hunt.
  7. stevedore
    a laborer who loads and unloads ships at a waterfront
    In turn, stevedores and dockhands and clerks furnished him with information and he scooped up the rascals on the threshold of deliverance.
  8. deliverance
    recovery or preservation from loss or danger
    In turn, stevedores and dockhands and clerks furnished him with information and he scooped up the rascals on the threshold of deliverance.
  9. gambit
    a strategic maneuver
    No wonder they lost track of their property. It became a game...before the lawyers unveiled their latest gambit.
  10. offal
    viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal
    The gutters of the city overflowed with offal and refuse—but the mess found its place in time.
  11. subversion
    the act of overthrowing or destroying, as a government
    They openly bragged of their subversion, hustling a slave out the back door as the slave catchers broke down the front.
  12. rebuttal
    the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
    The abolitionist wing of the Methodists circulated his pamphlets on Sunday morning and London periodicals published his arguments without rebuttal.
  13. cornice
    the topmost projecting part of an entablature
    She could just make out the top two floors of the Griffin Building, with its white cornices that blazed in the sunlight.
  14. frilly
    having decorative ruffles or similar ornamentation
    The dressmaker with her frilly, colorful creations draped on hooped wire, the overstuffed emporiums and their wonderland of goods, the rival general stores on either side of Main Street.
  15. emporium
    a large shop organized into sections
    The dressmaker with her frilly, colorful creations draped on hooped wire, the overstuffed emporiums and their wonderland of goods, the rival general stores on either side of Main Street.
  16. warren
    a series of underground tunnels occupied by rabbits
    Mr. Anderson’s floor was a warren of lawyer’s offices, with rich carpets, walls of dark brown wood, and doors inlaid with frosted glass.
  17. clientele
    customers collectively
    Bessie crossed the street to avoid the jumble of saloons and their disreputable clientele.
  18. feral
    wild and menacing
    There was a gray house on the corner whose owners were indifferent to their dog’s feral displays, and a line of cottages where the wives stared out of the windows with flinty expressions.
  19. unsullied
    spotlessly clean and fresh
    The brick was a pure, unsullied color, without so much as a dot of mud splashed from the rain.
  20. decelerate
    lose velocity; move more slowly
    Then the locomotive decelerated.
  21. wrack
    smash or break forcefully
    He mopped sweat and soot from his face and was about to speak when a ferocious coughing wracked his person.
  22. victuals
    a source of food or nourishment
    The basket contained victuals: bread, half a chicken, water, and a bottle of beer.
  23. divvy
    separate into parts or portions
    They were so hungry they shook out the crumbs from the basket to divvy.
  24. technicality
    a detail that is considered insignificant
    “It says here we’re the property of the United States Government,” Caesar pointed out. “That’s a technicality,” Sam said.
  25. confidante
    a woman or girl to whom secrets can be entrusted
    A confidante in the Griffin Building had forged these papers for them.
  26. primer
    an introductory textbook
    Cora had seen little children, ones younger than Maisie, use the same primer for their lessons. New copies with fresh spines.
  27. forbearance
    good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
    The families were told to exercise forbearance with inexperienced help.
  28. primp
    dress or groom with elaborate care
    She finished primping. Perhaps Caesar was already on the green.
  29. lout
    an awkward, foolish person
    One of the louts at the tavern gave him a black eye. He’s proud of it. Says he’d always wanted one.
  30. precocious
    characterized by exceptionally early development
    Dr. Stevens seemed young for a doctor. Cora took his precociousness as a tribute to his talents.
  31. mandatory
    required by rule
    Then there was the matter of mandatory, which sounded as if the women, these Hob women with different faces, had no say. Like they were property that the doctors could do with as they pleased.
  32. recalcitrant
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
    She wasn’t his first recalcitrant patient. Dr. Stevens put the matter aside without losing his warm demeanor.
  33. unscathed
    not injured
    Cora had become too accustomed to escaping unscathed from encounters with white authority.
  34. venerable
    impressive by reason of age
    The duo affected a plausible interest as Mr. Fields held forth on the cross-sections of pumpkins and the life rings of venerable white oaks, the cracked-open geodes with their purple crystals like glass teeth, the tiny beetles and ants the scientists had preserved with a special compound.
  35. disarray
    untidiness, especially of clothing and appearance
    She had been too distracted to notice the house’s disarray on her previous visit, the grimed plates, sawdust, and piles of clothes.
  36. hankering
    a yearning for something or to do something
    No, Red’s had exclusive claim to the residents of the dormitories with a hankering for drink and dance.
  37. saturnine
    showing a brooding ill humor
    The doctor was a frequent visitor at Miss Trumball’s establishment, preferring it to the Lanchester House, whose girls had a saturnine disposition in his opinion, as if imported from Maine or other gloom-loving provinces.
  38. predisposed
    made susceptible
    Did Sam know that the Igbo tribe of the African continent is predisposed to nervous disorders?
  39. melancholic
    characterized by or causing or expressing sadness
    What if we performed adjustments to the...breeding patterns and removed those of melancholic tendency?
  40. communicable
    (of disease) capable of being spread by infection
    Controlled sterilization, research into communicable diseases, the perfection of new surgical techniques on the socially unfit—was it any wonder the best medical talents in the country were flocking to South Carolina?
  41. incorrigible
    impervious to correction by punishment
    Perhaps the woman had wed a seaman of incorrigible appetites and hated the reminder—Cora didn’t know the source of her animus, or care.
  42. animus
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
    Perhaps the woman had wed a seaman of incorrigible appetites and hated the reminder—Cora didn’t know the source of her animus, or care.
  43. harried
    troubled persistently, especially with petty annoyances
    A young clerk ducking out from his desk in the Griffin, a man of enterprise; a harried matron corralling an unruly clutch of children; one of the sour youths who liked to batter the glass and startle the types.
  44. clutch
    a collection of things or persons to be handled together
    A young clerk ducking out from his desk in the Griffin, a man of enterprise; a harried matron corralling an unruly clutch of children; one of the sour youths who liked to batter the glass and startle the types.
  45. bauble
    cheap showy jewelry or ornament
    Cora had been figuring on Sam’s news all day, holding it up to the light like a hideous bauble, tilting it so.
Created on Tue Dec 12 14:55:09 EST 2017 (updated Tue Dec 19 10:05:13 EST 2017)

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