Metamorphoses: Book 14

by Ovid
Ovid's Metamorphoses features myths and stories of change, mutation, and transformation. Learn these words from the translation by John Dryden here.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5, Book 6, Book 7, Book 8, Book 9, Book 10, Book 11, Book 12, Book 13, Book 14
15 words 44 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. baneful
    exceedingly harmful or destructive
    At length he gains the Tyrrhene seas, and views
    The hills where baneful philters Circe brews;
    Monsters, in various forms, around her press;
    A "philter" is "a drink credited with magical power"--brewed by a sorceress surrounded by monsters, it would be baneful. Knowing that, the lovesick god Glaucus seeks Circe's help.
  2. indulgent
    given to yielding to the wishes of someone
    O Circe, be indulgent to my grief,
    And give a love-sick deity relief.
    Too well the mighty pow'r of plants I know,
    To those my figure, and new Fate I owe.
  3. avail
    be of use to, be useful to
    If numbers can avail, exert their pow'r;
    Or energy of plants, if plants have more.
  4. pang
    a sharp spasm of pain
    I ask no cure; let but the virgin pine
    With dying pangs, or agonies, like mine.
  5. coy
    modestly or warily rejecting approaches or overtures
    When maids are coy, have manlier aims in view;
    Leave those that fly, but those that like, pursue.
  6. compliance
    a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
    If love can be by kind compliance won;
    See, at your feet, the daughter of the Sun.
  7. surge
    a large sea wave
    Sooner, said Glaucus, shall the ash remove
    From mountains, and the swelling surges love;
  8. repair
    move, travel, or proceed toward some place
    Or humble sea-weed to the hills repair;
    E'er I think any but my Scylla fair.
  9. spite
    meanness or nastiness
    Fierce liking oft a spite as fierce creates;
    For love refus'd, without aversion, hates.
    To hurt her hapless rival she proceeds;
    And, by the fall of Scylla, Glaucus bleeds.
  10. tread
    put down, place, or press the foot
    At Rhegium she arrives; the ocean braves,
    And treads with unwet feet the boiling waves.
  11. recess
    an enclosure that is set back or indented
    Upon the beach a winding bay there lies,
    Shelter'd from seas, and shaded from the skies:
    This station Scylla chose: a soft retreat
    From chilling winds, and raging Cancer's heat.
    The vengeful sorc'ress visits this recess;
  12. infuse
    fill, as with a certain quality
    Her charm infuses, and infects the place.
  13. nether
    lower
    Soon as the nymph wades in, her nether parts
    Turn into dogs; then at her self she starts.
  14. vain
    unproductive of success
    In vain she offers from her self to run,
    "Vain" also means "characteristic of false pride"--this might have described Scylla when Glaucus first declared his love and she "was deaf to vows, and pityless to pray'r" (in another version of the myth, she ran away from him). But now with half her body transformed into dogs, she is vainly trying to run away from herself.
  15. strive
    exert much effort or energy
    And drags about her what she strives to shun.
Created on Tue Jun 18 16:56:28 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Apr 08 17:20:06 EDT 2019)

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.