Vocabulary in The House of the Seven Gables
From Conservapedia
Vocabulary in The House of the Seven Gables, a classic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, includes:
- gable - the triangular portion of an exterior wall of a house, supporting a pointed roof often over a window
Contents
Preface
- romance - unlike mundane reality, in a mysterious or exciting way; Hawthorne contrasts with this a "novel" which he views as limited by what is probable
- evanescent - fading or disappearing quickly
Chapter 1
- fain - willing or compelled (as an adjective), or even pleased or wanting to; as an adverb, gladly or done with pleasure
- epoch - a period of time notable by characteristics or events
- progenitor - ancestor, including the originator of an intellectual, political, or artistic movement
- vicissitude - change in fortune
- antiquarian - someone who studies the past and antiquities, such as ancient artifacts
- propinquity - being close to someone or something, such as kinship in the sense used in the novel
- venerable - commanding respect, usually through wisdom but here by the building; used twice in the introduction and four times in the first chapter
- pendant - something hanging, as from jewelry around one's neck; but here the "Pyncheon Elm ... sweeping the whole black roof with its pendant foliage"
- burdocks - a large plant that is a type of daisy having prickly burrs
Chapter 3
- daguerreotypist - someone who worked as a 19th century photographer, producing daguerreotypes through a direct-positive process based on a detailed image in a copper that is plated by a thin silver coat. No negative was used, and this careful process first required cleaning the silver-plated copper plate until it reflected like a mirror.
- anon - soon, or as soon as feasible; immediately. Shakespeare used "anon" about 100 times.
