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The Midwife's Apprentice: Chapters 10–13

In medieval England, an orphaned girl named Brat becomes an apprentice to Jane Sharp, the local midwife.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–5, Chapters 6–9, Chapters 10–13, Chapters 14–17
15 words 361 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. contraction
    a shortening or tensing of a muscle or organ
    She discovered that an eggshell full of the juice of leeks and mallows will make a labor quicker, that rubbing the mother’s belly with the blood of a crane can make it easier, that birth wort roots and flowers can strengthen contractions in a reluctant mother...
  2. treachery
    an act of deliberate betrayal
    "Such treachery! Such thievery! Eating my bread and stealing my mothers! Go!”
  3. croon
    sing softly
    Alyce rubbed and crooned and fussed, as she had with the bailiff’s wife.
  4. anoint
    administer an oil or ointment to, often ceremonially
    Anointing her hands with cornmeal and oil, she rubbed and kneaded, pulled and tugged, and turned that baby from both the inside and the outside until finally he was in a position to come out.
  5. tumult
    a state of commotion and noise and confusion
    All was chaos, noise and heat and blood, until finally over the tumult Alyce could hear the cries of a baby, the moans of a tired mother, and the laughter of the triumphant midwife.
  6. privy
    a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
    ...while Alnoth the Saxon cleaned the manor privies and cursed God for making him a peasant and not a lord...
  7. teem
    be full of or abuzz with
    Soon it was Christmas and the inn teemed with folk going away or coming home.
  8. renowned
    widely known and esteemed
    Magister Reese, it was said, was a renowned scholar.
  9. compendium
    a publication containing a variety of works
    “This, puss,” he said, shifting the sleeping animal off the page he was writing, “is my masterwork, an encyclopaedic compendium I call ‘The Great Mirror of the Universe Wherein You Can Find Reflected All of the World’s Knowledge, Collected by Myself, Magister Richard Reese, M.A., and Dedicated to His Ampleness the Bishop of Chester,’ so called for he is ample in all the world’s virtues.”
  10. gall
    abnormal swelling of plant tissue
    Or “See how I can make the ink blacker by mixing soot with the boiled oak galls.”
  11. compliant
    disposed to act in accordance with someone's wishes
    Q was by far the most beautiful, she thought, even if it could not stand alone and must be accompanied everywhere by the compliant U.
  12. bodice
    part of a dress above the waist
    When one day he threw away a page he had ruined with an inkblot, Alyce snatched it up and stuffed the stiff vellum into her bodice.
  13. dally
    waste time
    The girl didn’t steal food, sneak ale, or dally with the guests.
  14. comely
    very pleasing to the eye
    As spring burst into May and the trees were all flowers and Magister Reese decided to stay for one more season, there came to the inn a comely young man who acted so lordly Alyce thought he must be a knight or a mayor but proved to be the carpenter’s assistant from the manor.
  15. incompetence
    lack of physical or intellectual ability or qualifications
    Alyce’s face grew hot and then as cold as bare feet in January; her throat tickled and her eyes stung as she imagined the midwife telling Magister Reese of the girl’s stupidity, her incompetence, and her failure.
Created on Fri Sep 27 10:09:21 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Aug 05 10:25:17 EDT 2025)

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