Elijah of Buxton: Chapters 5-10

by Christopher Paul Curtis
Born in a Canadian settlement for runaway slaves, naive and well-meaning Elijah is forced to confront the realities of slavery when he attempts to recover stolen money that would help free a friend's enslaved family.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1-4, Chapters 5-10, Chapters 11-16, Chapters 17-24

Here are links to our lists for other books by Christopher Paul Curtis: Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, The Journey of Little Charlie
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. plague
    annoy continually or chronically
    Other times, times like this, you wouldn’t’ve knowed there was nothing plaguing her.
  2. midwife
    a woman skilled in aiding the delivery of babies
    She told Ma she waren’t gonna start wearing colours again till the Lord blessed her with another child, but the midwife here in Buxton and the doctor from up in Chatham both said that waren’t never gonna happen.
  3. mantel
    a shelf that projects from the wall above a fireplace
    Where we had a big fireplace and mantel made out of bricks from the Settlement’s brickyard, they still had a fireplace made out of clay and rocks.
  4. divvy
    separate into parts or portions
    As I walked, I started calculating how I was gonna divvy up these last five fish.
  5. gewgaw
    cheap showy jewelry, ornament, or decoration
    Mr. Leroy near ’bout built her house all by hisself and since he was the best carpenter in the Settlement, she’d paid him to put all kinds of fancy pillars and posts and gewgaws and curlycues everywhere on the outside of her house.
  6. familiarity
    personal knowledge or information about someone or something
    Mr. Travis didn’t usually write nothing on the board till we’d been studying for a while and children had started getting drowsy and droopy, but today he’d writ ’cross the blackboard in letters big enough that you could’ve read ’em from Lake Erie in the fog: familiarity breeds contempt!
  7. contempt
    open disrespect for a person or thing
    Mr. Travis didn’t usually write nothing on the board till we’d been studying for a while and children had started getting drowsy and droopy, but today he’d writ ’cross the blackboard in letters big enough that you could’ve read ’em from Lake Erie in the fog: familiarity breeds contempt!
  8. persnickety
    (used colloquially) overly conceited or arrogant
    What if that doggone Emma Collins or one n’em other persnickety girls run off and tell someone what we’re ’bout to study?
  9. whence
    from what place, source, or cause
    But Mr. Travis gave him a couple of more verys anyway.
    “... very, very few of us don’t have an appreciation of whence we have come.”
  10. bawl
    cry loudly
    Then Emma started in with her bawling.
  11. yoke
    an oppressive power
    You are so fortunate to be freed from the yoke of slavery, you have this wonderful opportunity to improve who you are, and instead you choose to behave toward me in a manner one would expect of a poor ignorant soul who has lived his entire, life in bondage!
  12. upbringing
    helping someone grow up to be a member of the community
    They say it’s a sign of hatred when a white person says it and a sign of bad upbringing and ignorance when one our own calls it out, so there ain’t no good excuses.
  13. ignorance
    the lack of knowledge or education
    They say it’s a sign of hatred when a white person says it and a sign of bad upbringing and ignorance when one our own calls it out, so there ain’t no good excuses.
  14. grudge
    a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation
    So I waren’t doing nothing but telling Mr. Leroy the truth when I told him I waren’t holding no grudges and that I waren’t gonna use that word again.
  15. environs
    an outer adjacent area of any place
    Sir Charles has graciously agreed to allow the citizens of Chatham, Buxton, and nearby environs to witness for themselves what they have only read about in the nations finest newspapers.
  16. hypnotize
    induce a state that resembles sleep in
    What could be more exciting than going to a carnival to see freaks of nature and watch someone get hypnotized?
  17. astounding
    so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm
    Witness for yourself the astounding little lady who has killed five hundred and forty-one of the fiercest beasts in all of Europe, the dreaded Swedish moth lion!
  18. dexterity
    adroitness in using the hands
    The man said, “Please, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, help me welcome Madame Sabbar, and perhaps she will show us her dexterity with these deadly slingshots.”
  19. render
    cause to become
    “But, what is this? Oh, no! MaWee has used some of his conjuring powers on Madame Sabbar and has rendered her blind!”
  20. woe
    misery resulting from affliction
    The man said, “Oh, woe! And look at the cowardly savage! He’s preparing to attack! What shall we do? How shall we save this innocent white woman? I can give her a weapon, but in her state how shall she use it?”
  21. waylay
    wait in hiding to attack
    “Oh, no! She is blinded! And look! The savage is moving to another spot from which to waylay this innocent white maiden!”
  22. plumb
    exactly
    He sat plumb up there where the man had dropped him and cried so hard that purple and black streaks ran down his cheeks and splashed onto his chest.
  23. prestidigitation
    manual dexterity in the execution of tricks
    Another straw hat-wearing, walking stick-waving white man was out front of the tent calling, “Last show of the evening, last show of the year, last time in Canada, last chance of your lifetime to see the fantastic Vaughn-0 working his powers of mental prestidigitation!”
  24. keen
    intense or sharp
    There were torches high up on the walls that I’d have to be careful of whilst I was floating, but I figured if I kept a keen eye and kicked at ’em, I could get by without burning nothing ’sides my brogans and maybe the cuffs of my trousers.
  25. bevy
    a large gathering of people of a particular type
    A bevy of laughs and moans and screams came out of everyone that was jammed up in the tent.
  26. rapscallion
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    ’Cause there’s a rapscallion in Chatham what’s already laid claim to that name, and he ain’t the kind to be sharing nothing with no one!
  27. trifle
    consider not very seriously
    Just you be mindful of who you say that name to. Elijah from Chatham ain’t to be trifled with.
  28. pendulum
    an apparatus in which an object is mounted to swing freely
    The boy’s head started going back and forth fast like a pendulum in a clock that the weight’s fell off.
  29. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    “You are entering a realm of velvet sleep, golden slumbers, and dappled dreams. Once I snap my fingers, you will lose yourself in my voice. Upon the sound of my fingers snapping, my simplest wish will become your irresistible command! ”
  30. appall
    fill with apprehension or alarm
    Samuel, your mother would be appalled if you were to get that beautiful, expensive, and rather stylish shirt wet!
  31. dungaree
    a coarse durable cotton fabric used to make jeans
    A hoop and a holler came out of the crowd ’cause we were all pretty sure that even though Sammy’s trousers looked like old and worned-out dungarees to us, to the mesmerist they were gonna be some more of that fine Toronto silk that caint stand getting wet.
  32. cardinal
    crested North American songbird having bright red plumage
    And he turned red as any cardinal I’d ever seen.
  33. mesmerize
    induce hypnosis in
    After they rough-handed Sammy and booted him out of the tent, the conjurer mesmerized two or three other folks but waren’t a one of ’em nowhere near as interesting as Sammy.
  34. humble
    cause to be unpretentious
    “Reverend Connerly, I am humbled to be in your presence. I am the lowly Charles Mondial Vaughn the Fourth, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. Knighted a mere fourteen years ago.”
  35. intrigue
    cause to be interested or curious
    “I’m intrigued. Do tell.”
  36. matted
    tangled in a dense mass
    His hair was all matted up like a bird’s nest and his clothes were so dirty that not even Cooter would’ve been caught dead in ’em.
  37. stingy
    unwilling to spend
    They ain’t gunn say nothing at first but you gunn have to clean all them animal cages and fetch for ’em all times of the day or night, and the ’gator man gunn beat you every chance he get and you gunn be cleaning all they clothes, and they stingy with what they feed you, and it even ain’t no fun after ’while getting hit in the face with them grapes neither.
  38. pelt
    attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
    He say y’all up here ain’t gunn think it funny to see me get pelt with no grapes.
  39. augmented
    added to or made greater in amount or number or strength
    I can see that little Ahbo would be able to carry his weight and contribute to the family with his stone throwing, augmented, of course, by several other chores, but I really do not have a need for anyone else.
  40. transference
    changing ownership
    I would, however, handsomely reward you for your transference of guardianship of the boy.
Created on Wed Dec 13 15:03:55 EST 2017 (updated Thu Oct 18 17:10:24 EDT 2018)

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