The View from Saturday: Ethan Explains the B and B Inn–Chapter 4

by E.L. Konigsburg
In this novel, the members of Mrs. Olinski's champion Academic Bowl team reveal the secrets behind their unexpected success.

This list covers Ethan Explains the B and B Inn–Chapter 4.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5

Here are links to our lists for other books by E. L. Konigsburg: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Silent to the Bone
15 words 399 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. nonchalantly
    in a composed and unconcerned manner
    I placed my backpack on the seat next to me, and as nonchalantly as I could, placed my leg over that.
  2. pothole
    a pit or cavity in a road produced by wear or weathering
    I knew every house, every tree and shrub, every pothole in the road.
  3. suffragette
    a woman advocate of women's right to vote
    In the picture, my ancestor is wearing bloomers, which was what they called the trousers that were invented by Amelia Jenks Bloomer of Homer, New York, and suffragette is what they called the women who were fighting for a woman's right to vote.
  4. archive
    a depository containing historical records and documents
    There is no picture of her at the first convention for women's rights, but she was there. In the family archive, which my Grandmother Draper passed on to my mother when she moved to Florida, there is a letter from her, postmarked Seneca Falls and dated 1848.
  5. disrepair
    the state of being in poor or damaged condition
    The house, which was given to the college along with the farm, was in a state of disrepair, and the college wanted to tear it down, but since it was the oldest farmhouse in Clarion County, it was saved by that same group that saved the schoolhouse.
  6. itinerant
    traveling from place to place to work
    The main feature of the first floor is the dining room, which stretches from the front of the house to the back because in the days when the Sillington place was a working farm, Mrs. Sillington used to feed all the itinerant farmhands breakfast and supper.
  7. resume
    return to a previous location or condition
    Before I could resume my seat-occupied sprawl, the kid was standing in the aisle next to my seat.
  8. occupancy
    the act of living in or taking possession of a building
    We must make Sillington House handicap accessible before we are ready for occupancy. Mrs. Gershom was most helpful in getting permits for the conversion.
  9. conversion
    the act of changing from one use or function to another
    We must make Sillington House handicap accessible before we are ready for occupancy. Mrs. Gershom was most helpful in getting permits for the conversion.
  10. inevitable
    an unavoidable event
    When the bus stopped, in a feeble attempt to postpone the inevitable, I pretended to be looking for something.
  11. paraplegic
    suffering total immobilization of the lower half of the body
    As she wrote paraplegic, Mrs. Olinski spelled it out, "P-A-R-A-P-L-E-G-I-C. It means that I am paralyzed from the waist down."
  12. verge
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    I was on the verge of asking her to take it back and give me a refund when the clerk emerged from the back room carrying the puzzle box all wrapped in pink paper.
  13. spontaneous
    said or done without having been planned in advance
    There was a spontaneous burst of applause from their side of the aisle that was immediately suppressed by the commissioner.
  14. admonish
    counsel in terms of someone's behavior
    “I must admonish the audience not to applaud. It is distracting to both teams."
  15. acronym
    a word formed from the initial letters of several words
    "An acronym is defined as a word formed from the initial letters of a series of words. For example, RADAR is an acronym for Radio Detecting And Ranging. R-A from radio, D from detecting, A from and, and R from ranging. Can you give me two more examples of acronyms that have entered our language as words?"
Created on Tue Apr 30 11:43:46 EDT 2019 (updated Wed Aug 06 14:14:11 EDT 2025)

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