Sweet Bird of Youth: Act One, Scene One

by Tennessee Williams
In Tennessee Williams's play, failed actor Chance Wayne takes up with fading starlet Alexandra del Lago and returns to his hometown of St. Cloud, Florida.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Foreword; Act One, Scene One; Act One, Scene Two; Act Two, Scene One; Act Two, Scene Two; Act Three
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. toll
    ring slowly
    A church bell tolls, and from another church, nearer, a choir starts singing the "Hallelujah Chorus."
  2. ether
    a highly inflammable liquid formerly used as an anesthetic
    Your lady friend sounds like she's coming out of ether.
  3. incognito
    without revealing one's identity
    She's traveling incognito.
  4. cordial
    politely warm and friendly
    If you want to know anything more about that, you can get in touch with Reverend Walker about it, although I'm afraid he won't be likely to show much cordiality to you.
  5. ordeal
    a severe or trying experience
    In this letter I just told you that a certain girl we know had to go through an awful experience, a tragic ordeal, because of past contact with you.
  6. impress
    have a powerful and usually positive effect on
    But I hope I have said it in a way to impress you with the vital urgency of it, so you will leave....
  7. degenerate
    a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable
    There's a lot more to this which we feel ought not to be talked about to anyone, least of all to you, since you have turned into a criminal degenerate, the only right term for you...
  8. subside
    wear off or die down
    After a moment, her panicky breath subsiding, she growls at him.
  9. gauge
    an instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity
    Check the air left in it; there's a gauge on the cylinder that gives the pressure....
  10. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    Something disturbs me...adrenaline's pumped in my blood and I get short-winded, that's all, that's all there is to it...
  11. remnant
    a small part remaining after the main part no longer exists
    Well, please give me the remnants.
  12. intimate
    marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity
    I don't mind waking up in an intimate situation with someone, but I like to see who it's with, so I can make whatever adjustment seems called for....
  13. tactile
    of or relating to or proceeding from the sense of touch
    The tactile approach.
  14. laryngitis
    an inflammation characterized by hoarseness or loss of voice
    Of course, they could be pigeons with laryngitis.
  15. shifty
    characterized by insincerity or deceit; evasive
    The ship's doctor gave me injections while this stuff was winging over the ocean to a shifty young gentleman who thought he could blackmail me for it.
  16. bluff
    pretense that your position is stronger than it really is
    I called his bluff.
  17. intermittently
    in a manner of stopping and starting at irregular intervals
    She turns to the audience, and intermittently changes the focus of her attention.
  18. wither
    lose freshness, vigor, or vitality
    I began to feel breathless, in that withered, withering country, of time coming after time not meant to come after, and so I discovered...
  19. nomad
    a member of a people who have no permanent home
    I could have painted the landscapes of the endless, withering country in which I wandered like a lost nomad.
  20. elaborate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    I made the mistake of wearing a very elaborate gown to the premiere, a gown with a train that had to be gathered up as I rose from my seat and began the interminable retreat from the city of flames, up, up, up the unbearably long theatre aisle, gasping for breath and still clutching up the regal white train of my gown, all the way up the forever...length of the aisle, and behind me some small unknown man grabbing at me, saying, stay, stay!
  21. regal
    belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
    I made the mistake of wearing a very elaborate gown to the premiere, a gown with a train that had to be gathered up as I rose from my seat and began the interminable retreat from the city of flames, up, up, up the unbearably long theatre aisle, gasping for breath and still clutching up the regal white train of my gown, all the way up the forever...length of the aisle, and behind me some small unknown man grabbing at me, saying, stay, stay!
  22. vice
    moral weakness
    Boy, I doubt very much that I have any vice that I'd need to introduce to you....
  23. condescending
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    It sounds condescending.
  24. gimmick
    any clever maneuver
    What's the gimmick? The hitch?
  25. hitch
    an unforeseen obstacle
    What's the gimmick? The hitch?
  26. notarize
    authenticate by someone empowered to witness signatures
    It was notarized and witnessed by three strangers found in a bar.
  27. novelty
    a small inexpensive mass-produced article
    You know, you can buy those things for six bits in novelty stores.
  28. loophole
    an ambiguity that makes it possible to evade an obligation
    But I guess the contract we signed is full of loopholes?
  29. lamentation
    a cry of sorrow and grief
    "The Lamentation" is heard very faintly.
  30. diction
    the articulation of speech to be intelligible to an audience
    I said that I wanted it to improve my diction....
  31. stole
    a wide shawl or scarf worn around the shoulders
    Where's my mink stole?
  32. contemptuously
    without respect; in a disdainful manner
    He tosses it to her contemptuously from a chair.
  33. insincere
    lacking the quality of being open and truthful
    What an insincere laugh, if that's how you fake a laugh, no wonder you didn't make good in your comeback picture....
  34. narcotic
    a drug that produces numbness or stupor
    You wouldn't want "Confidential" or "Whisper" or "Hush-Hush" or the narcotics department of the F.B.I. to get hold of one of these tape-records, would you?
  35. endearing
    lovable especially in a childlike or naive way
    Why it's so silly, it's touching, downright endearing, it makes me feel close to you, Chance.
  36. genteel
    marked by refinement in taste and manners
    Born of good Southern stock, in a genteel tradition, with just one disadvantage, a laurel wreath on your forehead, given too early, without enough effort to earn it...where's your scrapbook, Chance?
  37. laurel
    a wreath of foliage worn on the head as an emblem of victory
    Born of good Southern stock, in a genteel tradition, with just one disadvantage, a laurel wreath on your forehead, given too early, without enough effort to earn it...where's your scrapbook, Chance?
  38. aptitude
    inherent ability
    I'm an older hand at it...with much more natural aptitude at it than you have....
  39. terminal
    causing or ending in or approaching death
    Whether or not I do have a disease of the heart that places an early terminal date on my life, no mention of that, no reference to it ever.
  40. odious
    extremely repulsive or unpleasant
    No mention of death, never, never a word on that odious subject.
Created on Wed Feb 28 13:30:14 EST 2018 (updated Wed Mar 07 08:54:51 EST 2018)

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