Vocabulary for
"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street"

Vocabulary(words are in the order they appear in the text)

(**): indicates that the word is important for understanding the story

**avocations(3)

**scriveners(3)

Imprimis(3)

orbicular(4)

Chancery(4)

arduous(4)

remunerative(4)

abrogation(4)

**wall(4):(note: I know you know what a wall is, but it is sometimes interesting to read the definition of a familiar word to gain new insight, particularly when the word is a prominent one a story such as "Bartleby." If you look this word up take a look at all of its meanings.)

pursy(4)

meridian(4)

John Jacob Astor(5): (1763-1848), a German immigrant, arrived in New York penniless and became fabulously wealthy as a result of his fur trade monopoly.

piratical(6)

**Tombs(7): maximum-security prison in New York City. Melville gives us the definition of page 31: "I went to the Tombs, or, to speak more properly, the Halls of Justice."

dun(7)

execrable(7)

obstreperousness(7)

pernicious(7)

vintner(7)

potations(7)

paroxysms(8)

alacrity(8)

Byron(9): English Romantic poet and satirist

**prefer(10)

**Cicero(10, 19): Roman statesmen, orator and author.

**hermitage(11)

ignominiously(11, 14)

dyspeptic(12)

**reveries(12)

mulish(13)

vagary(13)

pugilistic(13)

inveteracy(14)

wight(14)

dissipation(15)

inadvertence(15)

deshabille(16)

decorous(16)

Marius(17): a Roman general(157-86 B.C.)

Carthage(17)

chimeras(17)

pigeonholes(17)

refectory(17)

pallid(18)

efficacy(20)

ascendancy(24)

cadaverous(24)

**Edwards(26): Jonathan Edwards(1703-1758), American theologian

**Priestley(26): Joseph Priestley(1733-1804), English clergyman and chemist who discovered oxygen.

incubus(27)

**particular(29)

omnibus(30)

quiescent(30)

rockaway(30)

**forgers(32)

Millstone Education: World Literature / http://www.millstoneeducation.com/worldLit