Sweet Bird of Youth: Act Two, Scene One

by Tennessee Williams
In Tennessee Williams's play, failed actor Chance Wayne takes up with fading starlet Alexandra del Lago and returns to his hometown of St. Cloud, Florida.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Foreword; Act One, Scene One; Act One, Scene Two; Act Two, Scene One; Act Two, Scene Two; Act Three
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. tableau
    any dramatic scene
    The men should also be wearing white or off-white suits: the tableau is all blue and white, as strict as a canvas of Georgia O'Keeffe's.
  2. concurrently
    overlapping in duration
    BOSS: My little girl was fifteen, barely out of her childhood when— [calling offstage] Charles—
    [Charles enters.]
    BOSS: Call Miss Heavenly—
    CHARLES [concurrently]: Miss Heavenly. Miss Heavenly. Your daddy wants to see you.
  3. coronary
    an obstruction of blood flow in an artery of the heart
    Oh, I know, I'll have me a coronary and go like that.
  4. gall
    the trait of being rude and impertinent
    But not because Chance Wayne had the unbelievable gall to come back to St. Cloud.
  5. deferential
    showing courteous regard for people's feelings
    SCUDDER [quietly, deferentially]: Hatcher, Dan Hatcher, is the assistant manager of the Royal Palms Hotel, and the man that informed me this morning that Chance Wayne was back in St. Cloud.
  6. discreet
    marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint
    I think I impressed him how important it is to handle this thing discreetly.
  7. heckler
    someone who tries to embarrass you with gibes and objections
    Discreetly, like you handled that operation you done on my daughter, so discreetly that a hillbilly heckler is shouting me questions about it wherever I speak?
  8. typhoid
    infection marked by intestinal inflammation and ulceration
    Say she's got something contagious, typhoid, bubonic plague.
  9. finicky
    fussy, especially about details
    There's a pretty fair doctor that lost his license for helping a girl out of trouble, and he won't be so...finicky about doing this absolutely just thing.
  10. reputable
    held in high esteem and honor
    But I am a reputable doctor, I haven't lost my license.
  11. veranda
    a porch along the outside of a building
    Aunt Nonnie appears before the veranda, terribly flustered, rooting in her purse for something, apparently blind to the men on the veranda.
  12. snub
    refuse to acknowledge
    Why did you snub him like that?
  13. abet
    assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing
    You favored Chance Wayne, encouraged, aided, and abetted him in his corruption of Heavenly over a long, long time.
  14. promiscuous
    casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior
    How about your well-known promiscuity, Papa?
  15. spectral
    relating to an array of the components of an emission
    The light change is not realistic; the light doesn't seem to come from the coach lamp but from a spectral radiance in the sky, flooding the terrace.
  16. stately
    refined or imposing in manner or appearance
    Looking at his very beautiful daughter, he becomes almost stately.
  17. parquet
    a floor made of a patterned wood inlay
    The flagged terrace may suggest the parquet floor of a ballroom and the two players' movements may suggest the stately, formal movements of a court dance of that time; but if this effect is used, it should be just a suggestion.
  18. parapet
    a low wall along the edge of a roof or balcony
    Heavenly has moved upstage to the low parapet or sea wall that separates the courtyard and lawn from the beach.
  19. urn
    a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
    The coach lamp has cast a strange light on the setting, which is neoromantic: Heavenly stops by an ornamental urn containing a tall fern that the salty Gulf wind has stripped nearly bare.
  20. reproach
    express criticism towards
    BOSS: Are you reproaching me for—?
    HEAVENLY [shouting]: Yes, I am, Papa, I am.
  21. shroud
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    If you was dying, if there was any chance of it, would I invest fifteen grand in a diamond clip to pin on the neck of a shroud?
  22. desegregation
    incorporation of a formerly excluded group into a community
    Last week in New Bethesda, when I was speaking on the threat of desegregation to white women's chastity in the South, some heckler in the crowd shouted out, "Hey, Boss Finley, how about your daughter?..."
  23. chastity
    abstaining from sexual relations
    Last week in New Bethesda, when I was speaking on the threat of desegregation to white women's chastity in the South, some heckler in the crowd shouted out, "Hey, Boss Finley, how about your daughter?..."
  24. convent
    a religious residence especially for nuns
    If they'll let me, accept me, I'm going into a convent.
  25. corsage
    an arrangement of flowers that is usually given as a present
    You're going to be wearing the stainless white of a virgin, with a Youth for Tom Finley button on one shoulder and a corsage of lilies on the other.
  26. scotch
    hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire
    You're going to be on the speaker's platform with me, you on one side of me and Tom Junior on the other, to scotch these rumors about your corruption.
  27. crusade
    a series of actions tending toward a particular end
    I'm relying a great deal on this campaign to bring in young voters for the crusade I'm leading.
  28. adulterate
    make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance
    A lot of people approve of taking violent action against corrupters. And on all of them that want to adulterate the pure white blood of the South.
  29. plod
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    He turns and plods wearily, doggedly off at left.
  30. doggedly
    with obstinate determination
    He turns and plods wearily, doggedly off at left.
Created on Wed Feb 28 13:54:32 EST 2018 (updated Wed Mar 07 08:56:07 EST 2018)

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