Moon Over Manifest: List 5

by Clare Vanderpool
During the Great Depression, Abilene Tucker tries to solve a mystery in her father's hometown of Manifest, Kansas, while also learning about Manifest's fascinating past.

This list covers "Distribution"–"Hattie Mae’s News Auxiliary, September 6, 1936," or pages 251-342 in the 2010 Yearling edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1,List 2,List 3,List 4,List 5
35 words 281 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. relegate
    assign to a lower position
    And since Velma T.’s elixir was something relegated largely to newspaper advertisements and jokes, people would have been none the wiser.
  2. infirmity
    the state of being weak in health or body
    The women, who had been nursing these men in their infirmity, wondered how they’d suddenly improved while others lingered in the sickness.
  3. constitutional
    a regular walk taken as a form of exercise
    “Out for your morning constitutional, gentlemen?”
  4. vigil
    a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
    The sheriff wasn’t just keeping watch. It was a downright vigil.
  5. speculation
    continuous contemplation on a subject of a deep nature
    Both sat for a moment, lost in thought and speculation as to who the mole might be.
  6. sabbatical
    a leave usually taken every seventh year
    Due to Fred’s “injury” and the fact that his mother is coming in from Springfield to “help,” I will be taking a sabbatical from “Hattie Mae’s News Auxiliary.”
    Although the word sabbatical traditionally refers to a period of rest or a break taken every seven years, it can also be used more generally to mean any break from work or an activity.
  7. inaugurate
    commence officially
    So at their suggestion, we are inaugurating the Manifest Herald’s Remember When contest.
  8. roil
    be agitated
    Waiting for the water to boil, I gazed out the window, watching the clouds churn and roil high above the neat rows of Miss Sadie’s garden that in fact had come to feel like my own.
  9. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    Mrs. Larkin, who liked to have her nose in everything, was conspicuously absent.
  10. curt
    brief and to the point
    The answer was curt, as if he didn’t need to explain himself to the likes of Lester Burton.
  11. standoffish
    lacking cordiality; unfriendly
    “Now hold on there, son. There’s no need to be so standoffish. Smart young fellow like you wouldn’t drink that water if there was something wrong with it.”
  12. grievance
    a complaint about a wrong that causes resentment
    “I assure you we will address your grievance, but the first item on the agenda is the settlement of the Widow Cane’s property.”
  13. shyster
    a person who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods
    “Your Honor. These shysters have been deceiving everyone long enough. Producing illegal alcohol, or their so-called elixir, to raise funds to buy the land. I’d say it’s time to put that land up for sale.”
  14. tract
    an extended area of land
    “Very well. Let’s get on with it. Since the township cannot make payment in full at this time, then in accordance with public statute, the aforementioned tract of land is now open for public bids.”
  15. stipulation
    a restriction insisted upon as a condition for an agreement
    “Your Honor, since there is no stipulation that the land be sold in one piece, I’d like to first bid on the section including the spring from the tracks to the stream.”
  16. flagrant
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    “Meaning that if, in fact, the town of Manifest has raised seven hundred and forty dollars—by whatever flagrant and nefarious means”—she looked over her glasses at Shady and Jinx—“due to Mr. Burton’s purchase of the spring, they now have the money to buy the rest of the Widow Cane’s property, with eight dollars to spare. The county clerk can verify.”
  17. nefarious
    extremely wicked
    “Meaning that if, in fact, the town of Manifest has raised seven hundred and forty dollars—by whatever flagrant and nefarious means”—she looked over her glasses at Shady and Jinx—“due to Mr. Burton’s purchase of the spring, they now have the money to buy the rest of the Widow Cane’s property, with eight dollars to spare. The county clerk can verify.”
  18. hubbub
    loud confused noise from many sources
    “With all this hubbub, I think you may be a bit confused. You see, we are not in your mine. You are in my courtroom and you may refer to me as Judge or Your Honor.”
  19. bailiff
    officer of the court employed to execute writs and processes
    He took the manila envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to the bailiff, who passed it to Judge Carlson.
  20. charlatan
    a flamboyant deceiver
    “This is an outrage, Judge. I retract my bid on the grounds that I have been tricked, manipulated, and lied to. This man is a charlatan. He told me he worked for the government.”
  21. dander
    a feeling of anger and animosity
    “It was just a little something Mrs. Larkin and I cooked up while having polite conversation. It really gets her dander up when someone insults the late Eugene Larkin.”
  22. armistice
    a state of peace agreed to between opponents
    As for news from abroad, I had tea and cookies yesterday at Koski’s Diner with Mr. Fred Macke, on a purely professional basis, and he said that at the capitol building in Topeka, where he is the assistant to the assistant, there is much talk of armistice and a possible end to the war in Europe.
  23. anecdote
    short account of an incident
    It seemed everyone had a funny anecdote to share or a touching memory of a loved one.
  24. skedaddle
    run away, as if in a panic
    So I skedaddled over to Miss Sadie’s and tromped up her stairs and into her house.
  25. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    Her face looked dull and ashen.
  26. perpetuate
    cause to continue or prevail
    “Who would dare think the outcast and abandoned can find a home? Who would dream that one can love without being crushed under the weight of it? A miracle cure to heal the sick? Pah. What makes us think any of this could be true? And yet all of us, we participate in this myth, we create it, perpetuate it.”
  27. finesse
    subtly skillful handling of a situation
    “The ball, she requires finesse and caressing, you know, like a lady. This is why the Italians are so good at bocce. Watch. You don’t want to knock her out. Merely brush her cheek.”
  28. boisterous
    marked by exuberance and high spirits
    One boisterous Scot yelled, “Aye, that’s amore.”
  29. strait
    a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs
    These people don’t even know you. Have you told them that you’re nothing but a jinx? That bad luck follows you everywhere and people all around you end up in bad straits or dying?
  30. escapade
    a wild and exciting undertaking
    Most people knew nothing of the nighttime escapade or the unusual burial that had taken place that day.
  31. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    The ladies listened with rapt attention to the story of how Mrs. Larkin and the boy, Jinx, had cooked up the scheme of tricking Lester Burton into buying the spring and how it had been her idea not to tell anyone, including Shady, of their plans.
  32. respite
    a relief from harm or discomfort
    Funny thing, it also makes me take a little extra care when I dig one so it might be a place of respite for the next guy to come along.
  33. hallowed
    worthy of religious veneration
    “Some of us started believing our own tale. That it might be healing water, hallowed ground. But it was just water and dirt, plain and simple.”
  34. hack
    a mediocre writer, especially one who writes for hire
    He was a bit put out when Hattie Mae said she’d only come in to ask him where he got off calling her a hack reporter and had he or had he not started charging by the letter for engraving tombstones after the incident involving Emancipation Proclamation Nesch.
  35. complement
    make perfect or supply what is wanting
    Mrs. Evans said it complemented my auburn hair and hazel eyes.
Created on Fri May 18 14:32:57 EDT 2018 (updated Mon May 21 10:36:41 EDT 2018)

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