From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Chapters 3-4

by E.L. Konigsburg
When Claudia Kincaid and her brother run away from home, they find themselves caught up in a mystery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Learn these words from E. L. Konigsburg's award-winning novel.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: To My Lawyer-Chapter 2, Chapters 3-4, Chapters 5-6, Chapters 7-8, Chapters 9-10
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. extravagant
    recklessly wasteful
    How can you even think of a taxi? We have no more allowance. No more income. You can’t be extravagant any longer.
  2. collapse
    break down due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack
    But he’ll regret it when I simply collapse from exhaustion.
  3. civilized
    marked by refinement in taste and manners
    She found Jamie standing on that corner, probably one of the most civilized street corners in the whole world, consulting a compass and announcing that when they turned left, they would be heading “due northwest.”
  4. mimic
    imitate, especially for satirical effect
    “Head due northwest. Head due northwest,” she mimicked.
  5. accumulate
    collect or gather
    Claudia needed an argument. Her internal heat, the heat of anger, was cooking that accumulated carbon dioxide. It would soon explode out of her if she didn’t give it some vent.
  6. inconspicuous
    not prominent or readily noticeable
    “Don’t you realize that we must try to be inconspicuous?” she demanded of her brother.
    “What’s inconspicuous?”
    “Un-noticeable.”
  7. glamorous
    having an air of allure, romance and excitement
    Claudia wished to eat in the restaurant on the main floor, but Jamie wished to eat in the snack bar downstairs; he thought it would be less glamorous, but cheaper, and as chancellor of the exchequer, as holder of the veto power, and as tightwad of the year, he got his wish.
  8. ornate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    The bed had a tall canopy, supported by an ornately carved headboard at one end and by two gigantic posts at the other.
  9. musty
    stale and unclean smelling
    How could so elegant and romantic a bed smell so musty?
  10. deficiency
    lack of an adequate quantity or number
    She thought she might have an iron deficiency anemia: tired blood.
  11. seep
    pass gradually or leak or as if through small openings
    The silence seeped from their heads to their soles and into their souls.
  12. sarcophagus
    a stone coffin, usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions
    Claudia hid her violin case in a sarcophagus that had no lid.
  13. tapestry
    a wall hanging of heavy fabric with pictorial designs
    She hid her book bag behind a tapestry screen in the rooms of French furniture.
  14. urn
    a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
    So the trumpet case was hidden inside a huge urn and Jamie’s book bag was neatly tucked behind a drape that was behind a statue from the Middle Ages.
  15. perilous
    fraught with danger
    “Manning their stations” meant climbing back into the booths and waiting during the perilous time when the museum was open to the staff but not to visitors.
  16. gallery
    a room or series of rooms where works of art are exhibited
    Every day they would pick a different gallery about which they would learn everything.
  17. outrageous
    greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
    Jamie considered learning something every day outrageous.
  18. Renaissance
    period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages
    Her art teacher had said that the Renaissance was a period of glorification of the human form; as best she could figure out, that meant bare bodies.
  19. barrier
    a structure or object that impedes free movement
    Ladies’ arms draped with pocketbooks and men’s arms draped with coats formed a barrier as difficult to get through as barbed wire.
  20. vain
    unproductive of success
    They stood leaning back with their necks stretched and their heads tilted away, way back, making a vain effort to see over the shoulders of the tall adult who always appears in front of them.
  21. graceful
    characterized by beauty of movement, style, or form
    As Claudia passed by, she thought that that angel was the most beautiful, most graceful little statue she had ever seen; she wanted to stop and stare; she almost did, but the crowd wouldn’t let her.
  22. budget
    a sum of money allocated for a particular purpose
    “Well, perhaps, tomorrow you can push someone down and grab his paper while he’s trying to get up. I’m afraid, though, that our budget won’t allow this expense.”
  23. determined
    characterized by great firmness of purpose
    They walked for a short while before Claudia said, “I’ll find out some way.” She was determined about that.
    She was also determined about learning; they wouldn’t skip a lesson so easily.
  24. imposter
    a person who makes deceitful pretenses
    The pretty guide thought he was part of the class; the teacher thought that he was planted in the audience to pep up the discussion; the class knew that he was an imposter.
  25. embalm
    preserve a dead body
    It caused Claudia to want to embalm Jamie in a vat of mummy fluid right that minute.
  26. glimpse
    a brief or incomplete view
    Claudia was ready to pull Jamie out of line and make him learn another part of the museum today, but she got a glimpse of the room they were to go to next.
  27. smug
    marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
    Claudia looked as satisfied as the bronze statue of the Egyptian cat she was standing near. The only real difference between them was that the cat wore tiny golden earrings and looked a trifle less smug.
  28. reproduction
    something that has been copied
    The man who left it on the counter while he was looking at the reproductions of antique jewelry bought it.
  29. inconvenient
    not suited to your comfort, purpose or needs
    Being hungry was the most inconvenient part of running away.
  30. acquisition
    something gained
    Officials of the Metropolitan Museum of Art report that 100,000 people climbed the great stairway to catch a glimpse of one of its newest acquisitions, a twenty-four-inch statue called “Angel.”
  31. auction
    the public sale of something to the highest bidder
    If proof is found that it is an early work of Michelangelo, the museum will have purchased the greatest bargain in art history; it was purchased at an auction last year for $225.00.
  32. bargain
    an advantageous purchase
    Considering that recently Prince Franz Josef II accepted an offer of $5 million for a small painting by Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of the same period and of similar merit, will give some idea of how great a bargain this is.
  33. curator
    the custodian of a collection, as a museum or library
    The museum purchased the statue last year when one of its curators spotted it during a preview showing of works to be auctioned by the Parke-Bernet Galleries.
  34. exhaustive
    performed comprehensively and completely
    The statue has been the subject of exhaustive tests and study by the museum staff as well as art experts from abroad.
  35. residence
    a large and imposing house
    Mrs. Frankweiler’s residence on East 63rd Street was long a Manhattan showplace for what many considered one of the finest private collections of art in the Western Hemisphere.
  36. mediocre
    moderate to inferior in quality
    Others considered it a gigantic hodgepodge of the great and the mediocre.
  37. profitable
    yielding material gain
    I keep telling you that often the search proves more profitable than the goal.
  38. resemblance
    similarity in appearance or external or superficial details
    “Can’t you see any resemblance?”
    “Nope.” He looked at the picture again. “Who do you think it looks like?”
  39. romance
    an exciting and mysterious quality
    “Jamie, you have as much romance in you as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood.”
  40. intrigue
    cause to be interested or curious
    The mystery only intrigued her; the magic trapped her.
Created on Thu Sep 14 17:51:49 EDT 2017 (updated Thu Sep 21 08:49:40 EDT 2017)

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