The Phantom of the Opera - Chapter 5: The Enchanted Violin

Julie G. (United Kingdom)
Words from Gaston Leroux's novel "The Phantom of the Opera" (English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, 1911).

[The maker of this vocabulary list would like to add that although this is the best-known and most widely available English translation of Leroux's novel, it is in fact an abridged version, despite some publishers' claims to the contrary. It is, however, in the public domain, and has a very nice style to it. Personally, I recommend either Lowell Bair's or Mireille Ribiere's translations if you're looking for the full text in English.]
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. overweening
    presumptuously arrogant
    Some pretended that it was due to overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty.
  2. gala
    a lavish public entertainment or celebration
    After the famous gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; but this was the last occasion on which she was heard in private.
  3. wheedle
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
    "Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes. She wheedled her mother, was kind to her doll, took great care of her frock and her little red shoes and her fiddle, but most of all loved, when she went to sleep, to hear the Angel of Music."
  4. quay
    wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline
    Christine's white form stood on the deserted quay.
  5. gruesome
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Skeletons and skulls by the hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in position by a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible.
  6. disheartened
    made less hopeful or enthusiastic
    He often comes when they least expect him, when they are sad and disheartened.
  7. evoke
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    But their great treat was, in the twilight, in the great silence of the evening, after the sun had set in the sea, when Daae came and sat down by them on the roadside and, in a low voice, as though fearing lest he should frighten the ghosts whom he evoked, told them the legends of the land of the North.
  8. unearthly
    suggesting the operation of supernatural influences
    ...which darted a look at me from a pair of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan; and, in the presence of this unearthly apparition, my heart gave way, my courage failed me...and I remember nothing more until I recovered consciousness at the Setting Sun."
  9. budding
    beginning to develop
    They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments.
  10. intervention
    the act of putting something between two things
    "I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you sang the other evening without the intervention of some miracle. No professor on earth can teach you such accents as those. You have heard the Angel of Music, Christine."
  11. anniversary
    the date on which an event occurred in some previous year
    To-morrow is the anniversary of the death of my poor father, whom you knew and who was very fond of you.
  12. hamlet
    a community of people smaller than a village
    They gave the smallest hamlets music to last them for a year and slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at the inn, lying close together on the straw, as when they were so poor in Sweden.
  13. pallor
    an unnatural lack of color in the skin
    At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, dark rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the point of swooning.
  14. aghast
    struck with fear, dread, or consternation
    The young man himself was aghast at the sudden quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment when he had resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and submission to Christine.
  15. dejected
    affected or marked by low spirits
    Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground.
  16. ecstasy
    a state of elated bliss
    He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, strumming his Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never left his side, listened to him in ecstasy or sang to his playing.
  17. swoon
    pass out from weakness or physical or emotional distress
    At these words, a deathly pallor spread over Christine's face, dark rings formed round her eyes, she staggered and seemed on the point of swooning.
  18. altar
    a raised structure on which sacrifices to a god are made
    Her amazement, therefore, was all the greater when, the next morning, the young man was brought back to her half frozen, more dead than alive, and when she learned that he had been found stretched at full length on the steps of the high altar of the little church.
  19. asunder
    into parts or pieces
    And then came the lightning-flash of the gala performance: the heavens torn asunder and an angel's voice heard upon earth for the delight of mankind and the utter capture of his heart.
  20. trickle
    run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream
    But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened and two great tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks.
  21. prophesy
    predict or reveal, as if through divine inspiration
    She made wonderful progress and those who heard her prophesied that she would be the greatest singer in the world.
  22. whim
    an odd or fanciful or capricious idea
    And then he induced Mamma Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his.
  23. surmise
    infer from incomplete evidence
    ...of that ghastly game of bowls. And I had an idea that false step must have destroyed the balance of the structure behind which our musician was concealed. This surmise seemed to be confirmed when I saw a shadow suddenly glide along the sacristy wall. I ran up. The shadow had already pushed open the door and entered the...
  24. valet
    someone employed to park and retrieve cars
    The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, dressed as quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet to take to his brother and jumped into a cab which brought him to the Gare Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train.
  25. scorch
    burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color
    ...I did not let go of the cloak, the shadow turned round; and I saw a terrible death's head, which darted a look at me from a pair of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan; and, in the presence of this unearthly apparition, my heart gave way, my courage failed me...and I...
  26. odious
    extremely repulsive or unpleasant
    But he had gone too far and saw no other way out of the ridiculous position than to behave odiously.
  27. rustic
    characteristic of rural life
    At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no collection, refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around could not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven.
  28. pilgrimage
    a journey to a sacred place
    At the time of the "pardons," or Breton pilgrimages, the village festival and dances, he went off with his fiddle, as in the old days, and was allowed to take his daughter with him for a week.
  29. shroud
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    The first rays of the moon came and shrouded the two young people in their light.
  30. dazzling
    amazingly impressive
    Raoul walked away, dejectedly, to the graveyard in which the church stood and was indeed alone among the tombs, reading the inscriptions; but, when he turned behind the apse, he was suddenly struck by the dazzling note of the flowers that straggled over the white ground.
  31. celestial
    relating to or inhabiting a divine heaven
    Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives.
  32. skeleton
    the structure providing a frame for the body of an animal
    Skeletons and skulls by the hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in position by a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible.
  33. submission
    the act of surrendering power to another
    The young man himself was aghast at the sudden quarrel which he had dared to raise at the very moment when he had resolved to speak words of gentleness, love and submission to Christine.
  34. ivory
    a hard smooth dentine of the tusks of elephants and walruses
    But suddenly Christine's eyes moistened and two great tears trickled, like two pearls, down her ivory cheeks.
  35. harmony
    compatibility in opinion and action
    Then their ears suddenly perceive celestial harmonies, a divine voice, which they remember all their lives.
Created on Thu Jul 09 10:15:34 EDT 2015

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