Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Chapters 1–5

by Harriet Jacobs
After escaping to New York, Harriet Jacobs wrote this account of the horrors of slavery, focusing particularly on the suffering of enslaved women.

Here are links to our lists for the autobiography: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapters 15–28, Chapters 29–41
15 words 1044 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. evince
    give expression to
    But as she grew older she evinced so much intelligence, and was so faithful, that her master and mistress could not help seeing it was for their interest to take care of such a valuable piece of property.
  2. chattel
    personal property, as opposed to real estate
    The slave child had no thought for the morrow; but there came that blight, which too surely waits on every human being born to be a chattel.
  3. precept
    a rule of personal conduct
    My mistress had taught me the precepts of God's Word: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
  4. festoon
    flower chains suspended in curves as a decoration
    I spent the day gathering flowers and weaving them into festoons, while the dead body of my father was lying within a mile of me.
  5. epicure
    a person who takes great pleasure in fine food and drink
    Dr. Flint was an epicure.
  6. joist
    a beam used to support a floor or ceiling
    It was near night when he arrived, and Dr. Flint ordered him to be taken to the work house, and tied up to the joist, so that his feet would just escape the ground.
  7. conjecture
    a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating
    There were many conjectures as to the cause of this terrible punishment.
  8. disencumber
    release from entanglement or difficulty
    I thought how glad I should be, if some day when he walked the earth, it would open and swallow him up, and disencumber the world of a plague.
  9. dint
    force or effort
    By dint of kicking and fisting, William came out of the skirmish none the worse for a few scratches.
  10. quicksilver
    a metallic element that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
    One was his rubbing up pennies with quicksilver, and passing them off for quarters of a dollar on an old man who kept a fruit stall.
  11. imposition
    an uncalled-for burden
    I told him it was certainly wrong to deceive the old man, and that it was his duty to tell him of the impositions practised by his young master.
  12. galling
    causing irritation or annoyance
    He said he was no longer a boy, and every day made his yoke more galling.
  13. forbear
    refrain from doing
    He told her all; only he forbore to mention how sick and pale her darling looked.
  14. epoch
    a period marked by distinctive character
    But I now entered on my fifteenth year—a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl.
  15. indignation
    a feeling of righteous anger
    She was usually very quiet in her demeanor; but if her indignation was once roused, it was not very easily quelled.
Created on Thu Aug 02 14:50:04 EDT 2018 (updated Wed Aug 06 15:13:18 EDT 2025)

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.