Stories of Ourselves: "Her First Ball" by Katherine Mansfield

Eighteen-year-old Leila experiences a range of emotions when she attends her first formal ball.

Here are links to our lists for the short stories in Stories of Ourselves:
The Hollow of the Three Hills, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Signalman, The Happy Prince, The Yellow Wall Paper, The Son’s Veto, The Open Boat, The Moving Finger, The Door in the Wall, Sredni Vashtar, How It Happened, Her First Ball, The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection, The Fly in the Ointment, The Custody of the Pumpkin, An Englishman’s Home, The Phoenix, There Will Come Soft Rains, The Prison, The Destructors, Meteor, Billenium, The Lemon Orchard, The People Before, The Enemy, Five-Twenty, A Horse and Two Goats, Report on the Threatened City, The Rain Horse, Ming’s Biggest Prey, The Village Saint, Secrets, The Stoat, Games at Twilight, The Taste of Watermelon, Journey (Patricia Grace), The Bath, My Greatest Ambition, To Da-duh, in Memoriam, Of White Hairs and Cricket, Elephant, Sandpiper, Journey (Shirley Geok-Lin Um), The Third and Final Continent, Tyres, At Hiruharama, Real Time, On Her Knees, The Contest
25 words 207 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. bolster
    a pillow put across a bed underneath the regular pillows
    She sat back in her own little corner of it, and the bolster on which her hand rested felt like the sleeve of an unknown young man’s dress suit: and away they bowled, past waltzing lamp-posts and houses and fences and trees.
  2. indifferent
    showing no care or concern in attitude or action
    Oh dear, how hard it was to be indifferent like the others! She tried not to smile too much; she tried not to care.
  3. pang
    a sudden sharp feeling
    It even gave her a pang to see her cousin Laurie throw away the wisps of tissue paper he pulled from the fastenings of his new gloves.
  4. keepsake
    something of sentimental value
    She would like to have kept those wisps as a keepsake, as a remembrance.
  5. frill
    a strip of pleated material used as a decoration or a trim
    ‘But I must have a needle and cotton. I’ve torn simply miles and miles of the frill,’ wailed a third.
  6. forsake
    leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
    And the rush of longing she had had to be sitting on the veranda of their forsaken up-country home, listening to the baby owls crying ‘More pork’ in the moonlight, was changed to a rash of joy so sweet that it was hard to bear alone.
  7. gilt
    having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
    She clutched her fan, and, gazing at the gleaming, golden floor, the azaleas, the lanterns, the stage at one end with its red carpet and gilt chairs and the band in a corner, she thought breathlessly, ‘How heavenly; how simply heavenly!’
  8. parquet
    a floor made of a patterned wood inlay
    Then, quite suddenly, as if they had only just made up their minds that that was what they had to do, the men came gliding over the parquet.
  9. yore
    time long past
    ‘Do I remember this bright little face?’ he said softly. ‘Is it known to me of yore?’
  10. boarder
    a pupil who lives at school during term time
    Every Saturday afternoon the boarders were hurried off to a little corrugated iron mission hall where Miss Eccles (of London) held her ‘select’ classes.
  11. corrugated
    shaped into alternating parallel grooves and ridges
    Every Saturday afternoon the boarders were hurried off to a little corrugated iron mission hall where Miss Eccles (of London) held her ‘select’ classes.
  12. calico
    having patches colored differently and usually brightly
    But the difference between that dusty-smelling hall – with calico texts on the walls, the poor, terrified little woman in a brown velvet toque with rabbit’s ears thumping the cold piano, Miss Eccles poking the girls’ feet with her long white wand...
  13. toque
    a small round hat
    But the difference between that dusty-smelling hall – with calico texts on the walls, the poor, terrified little woman in a brown velvet toque with rabbit’s ears thumping the cold piano, Miss Eccles poking the girls’ feet with her long white wand...
  14. drawl
    speak in a slow and drawn out way
    ‘Quite a good floor, isn’t it?’ drawled a faint voice close to her ear.
  15. fervent
    characterized by intense emotion
    Leila was most fervent, it was such a relief to be able to tell somebody.
  16. blissful
    completely happy and contented
    Leila tucked her pink satin feet under and fanned herself, while she blissfully watched the other couples passing and disappearing through the swing doors.
  17. minute
    infinitely or immeasurably small
    He coughed, tucked his handkerchief away, pulled down his waistcoat, took a minute thread off his sleeve.
  18. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    It seemed to her that she had never known what the night was like before. Up till now it had been dark, silent, beautiful very often – oh yes – but mournful somehow. Solemn.
  19. shabby
    showing signs of wear and tear
    And when Leila compared him with her other partners he looked shabby.
  20. scarcely
    almost not
    He scarcely troubled to clasp her, and they moved away so gently, it was more like walking than dancing.
  21. ebony
    hard dark-colored wood used to make furniture
    ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘you can’t hope to last anything like as long as that. No-o,’ said the fat man, ‘long before that you’ll be sitting up there on the stage, looking on, in your nice black velvet. And these pretty arms will have turned into little short fat ones, and you’ll beat time with such a different kind of fan – a black ebony one.’
  22. pinafore
    a sleeveless dress resembling an apron
    But deep inside her a little girl threw her pinafore over her head and sobbed.
  23. veranda
    a porch along the outside of a building
    She wanted to be home, or sitting on the veranda listening to those baby owls.
  24. ravishing
    stunningly beautiful
    But presently a soft, melting, ravishing tune began, and a young man with curly hair bowed before her.
  25. haughty
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    Very stiffly she walked into the middle; very haughtily she put her hand on his sleeve.
Created on Mon Mar 05 12:00:45 EST 2018 (updated Fri Mar 23 15:16:51 EDT 2018)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.