Travels with Charley: Part 1

by John Steinbeck
In this traveogue, acclaimed author John Steinbeck sets out on a roadtrip across America with his best friend, a French poodle named Charley.

Here are our word lists for the book: Part 1,
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Appendix

Here are links to our lists for other books by John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, East of Eden, Cannery Row, The Grapes of Wrath, The Red Pony
15 words 648 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vacant
    void of thought or knowledge
    The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage.
  2. senility
    the state of being infirm with age
    In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job.
  3. wayward
    resistant to guidance or discipline
    When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find in himself a good and sufficient reason for going.
  4. intervening
    occurring between events, spaces, or points in time
    In short, I was writing of something I did not know about, and it seems to me that in a so-called writer this is criminal. My memories were distorted by twenty-five interven­ing years.
  5. impaired
    diminished in strength, quality, or utility
    I stopped where people stopped or gathered, I listened and looked and felt, and in the process had a picture of my country the accuracy of which was impaired only by my own shortcomings.
  6. peripatetic
    traveling especially on foot
    This being so, my trip demanded that I leave my name and my identity at home. I had to be peripatetic eyes and ears, a kind of moving gelatin plate.
  7. specification
    a description of design criteria for a piece of work
    In due time, specifications came through, for a tough, fast, comfortable vehicle, mounting a camper top—a little house with double bed, a four-burner stove, a heater, refrigerator and lights operating on butane, a chemical toilet, closet space, storage space, windows screened against insects—exactly what I wanted.
  8. context
    the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation
    I believe that people identify things only in context.
  9. lithe
    moving and bending with ease
    [The trailer] arrived in August, a beautiful thing, powerful and yet lithe. It was almost as easy to handle as a passenger car.
  10. arouse
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    It was said that my New York license plates would arouse interest and perhaps questions, since they were the only outward identifying marks I had.
  11. qualm
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    There was some genuine worry about my traveling alone, open to attack, robbery, assault. It is well known that our roads are dangerous. And here I admit I had senseless qualms.
  12. ubiquitous
    being present everywhere at once
    He was a silent, ubiquitous small boy. He even came at night to stare at Rocinante.
  13. moor
    secure in or as if in a berth or dock
    I battened her down and took her to the middle of the bay, put down a huge old-fashioned hook anchor and half-inch chain, and moored her with a long swing.
  14. vane
    mechanical device attached to an elevated structure
    The Fayre Eleyne rode gallantly, swinging like a weather vane away from the changing wind.
  15. swarm
    move in large numbers
    But the two lashed boats dragged anchor, swarmed down on Fayre Eleyne, and bracketed her.
Created on Tue Aug 06 18:19:20 EDT 2013 (updated Thu Jun 26 12:18:39 EDT 2025)

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