Unit 1: Selection Vocabulary 3

This list covers Call of the Klondike, "The King of Mazy May," and "The Cremation of Sam McGee."
16 words 87 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. grubstake
    funds advanced to a prospector or to someone starting a business in return for a share of the profits
    “By the afternoon,” Pearce wrote, “every man who could raise the necessary funds for a year’s grub stake was rushing to the grocers, hardware merchants and clothiers to get together the necessary outfit to start by the next boat for the promised land, where the dreams of all should be realized.”
  2. prospector
    someone who explores an area for mineral deposits
    When prospectors found a promising spot, they staked a claim by placing posts at each corner, one with their name and date on it. The prospector then had three days to go to town and file a legal claim.
  3. crude
    belonging to an early stage of technical development
    Because the claims were usually measured by crude means, disagreements over exact boundaries were common.
  4. subsequent
    following in time or order
    The first claim in a new location was called the “discovery claim.” Subsequent claims were legally referred to by their relationship to this claim, along with the name of the creek—5 Above Eldorado, or 6 Below Bonanza, for example.
  5. tenderfoot
    an inexperienced person
    Men are busily engaged on schemes to fleece the unsuspecting Cheecakos out of their tenderfoot money, and I am afraid many of them will work.
  6. novel
    pleasantly new or different
    Finally some one produced a candle and I volunteered to lead the procession, having had experience carrying a candle underground, I therefore had the novel experience of leading a stampede six miles up the Yukon by candle light.
  7. pursue
    follow in an effort to capture
    Two of his pursuers had gone back to harness the remaining dogs, but the others took advantage of these short cuts, running on foot, and before he knew it they had almost overtaken him.
  8. capsize
    overturn accidentally
    He hugged the inside of the curves too closely, often forcing his comrades behind him into the soft snow, while several times he thus capsized the sled.
  9. hummock
    a small natural mound
    Looking back he could see the sled of his pursuers, drawn by eight dogs, rising and falling over the ice hummocks like a boat in a seaway.
  10. flounder
    move clumsily or struggle to move, as in mud or water
    On account of the poor lead-dog, they were constantly floundering off the beaten track into the soft snow, and the sled was as often riding on its side or top as it was in the proper way.
  11. trace
    a line that connects a horse's harness to a wagon
    Cutting the traces with his hunting knife, he dragged the dying animal to one side and straightened out the team.
  12. heed
    pay close attention to
    A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail
  13. ghastly
    gruesomely indicative of death or the dead
    And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
  14. loathe
    dislike intensely; feel disgust toward
    In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in
    a ring,
    Howled out their woes to the homeless snows—O God! how I loathed
    the thing.
  15. scowl
    frown with displeasure
    And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to
    blow.
  16. grisly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear
Created on Thu Apr 08 14:24:22 EDT 2021 (updated Tue Apr 13 16:25:54 EDT 2021)

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