Babbitt: Chapters 18–26

by Sinclair Lewis
This novel traces two years in the life of George Babbitt, a middle-aged real estate agent who is at once determined to live a respectable middle-class life and repelled by the conformity of middle-class society. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–11, Chapters 12–17, Chapters 18–26, Chapters 27–34
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. cloying
    overly sweet
    He smelled the cloying reek from up-stairs, and heard her giggling with Ted.
  2. prosody
    the study of poetic meter and the art of versification
    However lax he might be about early rising and the prosody of Vergil, he was tireless in tinkering.
  3. chassis
    the skeleton of a motor vehicle
    With three other boys he bought a rheumatic Ford chassis, built an amazing racer-body out of tin and pine, went skidding round corners in the perilous craft, and sold it at a profit.
  4. furtive
    secret and sly
    Usually Eunice and he were merely neighborhood chums, and quarreled with a wholesome and violent lack of delicacy; but now and then, after the color and scent of a dance, they were silent together and a little furtive, and Babbitt was worried.
  5. collation
    a light informal meal
    There was to be dancing in the living-room, a noble collation in the dining-room, and in the hall two tables of bridge for what Ted called “the poor old dumb-bells that you can't get to dance hardly more 'n half the time.”
  6. vestige
    an indication that something has been present
    Well, the man—Captain Smith they used to call him, and heaven only knows why, because he hadn't the shadow or vestige of a right to be called 'Captain' or any other title—this Captain Smith said, 'We'll make it hot for you if you don't stick by your friends, Major.'
  7. extravagance
    excessive spending
    His favorite remark was “How much did you pay for that?” He regarded Verona's books, Babbitt's silver pencil, and flowers on the table as citified extravagances, and said so.
  8. epistemology
    the philosophical theory of knowledge
    All the while Verona and Kenneth Escott held long inquiries into epistemology; Ted was a disgraced rebel; and Tinka, aged eleven, was demanding that she be allowed to go to the movies thrice a week, “like all the girls.”
  9. consternation
    sudden shock or dismay that causes confusion
    He enjoyed being sick in February; he was delighted by their consternation that he, the rock, should give way.
  10. languorous
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    He had eaten a questionable clam. For two days he was languorous and petted and esteemed.
  11. reprisal
    a retaliatory action against an enemy
    He was allowed to snarl “Oh, let me alone!” without reprisals.
  12. cajole
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
    He thought of telephoning about leases, of cajoling men he hated, of making business calls and waiting in dirty anterooms—hat on knee, yawning at fly-specked calendars, being polite to office-boys.
  13. graft
    the practice of offering something for an illegal advantage
    “Ethics, rats! Think I'm going to see that bunch of holy grafters get away with the swag and us not climb in?” snorted old Henry.
  14. foppish
    overly concerned with extreme elegance in dress and manner
    Graff stalked in—a man of thirty-five, dapper, eye-glassed, with a foppish mustache.
  15. maunder
    speak in a rambling or incoherent way
    Embarrassed, standing, wondering how he could retreat, Babbitt maundered, “Well, I suppose you been having a great trip since we saw you in Zenith.”
  16. apprehensive
    in fear or dread of possible evil or harm
    He sat smoking with the piano-salesman, clinging to the warm refuge of gossip, afraid to venture into thoughts of Paul. He was the more affable on the surface as secretly he became more apprehensive, felt more hollow.
  17. deference
    courteous regard for people's feelings
    Babbitt had spoken with the deference which all the Clan of Good Fellows give to hotel clerks.
  18. salacious
    suggestive of or tending to moral looseness
    The Paul who normally refused a second cocktail took a second now, and a third. He became red-eyed and thick-tongued. He was embarrassingly jocular and salacious.
  19. derisive
    expressing contempt or ridicule
    She sat in a rocker amid a debris of candy-boxes and cheap magazines, and she sounded dolorous when she did not sound derisive.
  20. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    He unbuttoned his overcoat, sat tentatively on the arm of a chair.
  21. tenet
    a basic principle or belief that is accepted as true
    I believe the highest type of Service, like the most progressive tenets of ethics, senses unceasingly and is motived by active adherence and loyalty to that which is the essential principle of Boosterism—Good Citizenship in all its factors and aspects.
  22. aphorism
    a short pithy instructive saying
    “Ads, not Fads, at Dad's”
    The Boosters all read Mr. Peterson's aphorism and said they understood it perfectly.
  23. brazen
    made of or resembling brass, as in color or hardness
    Retiring President Vergil Gunch was in the chair, his stiff hair like a hedge, his voice like a brazen gong of festival.
  24. garrulous
    full of trivial conversation
    He spent most of the next morning nerving himself to face the garrulous world of the Athletic Club. They would talk about Paul; they would be lip-licking and rotten.
  25. diverting
    providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining
    He was restless. He vaguely wanted something more diverting than the newspaper comic strips to read.
  26. whimsy
    an odd or fanciful or capricious idea
    I'm traitor to poetry. I'm drunk. I'm talking too much. I don't care. Know what I could've been? I could've been a Gene Field or a James Whitcomb Riley. Maybe a Stevenson. I could've. Whimsies. 'Magination.
  27. tripe
    nonsensical talk or writing
    I made that up. I don't know what it means! Beginning good verse. Chile's Garden Verses. And whadi write? Tripe! Cheer-up poems. All tripe!
  28. denouement
    the outcome of a complex sequence of events
    He was impatient as the jest elaborately rolled on to its denouement.
  29. bombastic
    ostentatiously lofty in style
    While he was most bombastically agreeing with the coat-man that the weather was warm, he was conscious that he was longing to run childishly with his troubles to the comfort of the fairy child.
  30. repudiate
    reject as untrue, unfounded, or unjust
    Babbitt utterly repudiated the view that he had been trying to discover how approachable was Miss McGoun.
  31. preempt
    acquire for oneself before others can do so
    Babbitt had discreetly preempted a place beside Louetta on the piano bench.
  32. burnish
    polish and make shiny
    The interior was of black and white and crimson tiles, with a sensational ceiling of burnished gold, and a fountain in which a massive nymph forever emptied a scarlet cornucopia.
  33. votary
    a devoted adherent of a cause or person or activity
    About him was luxury, rich and delicate. One votary was having a violet-ray facial treatment, the next an oil shampoo.
  34. complaisant
    showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others
    They would have a pleasant drive, this hot lonely evening, and he might hold her hand—no, he wouldn't even do that. Ida was complaisant...
  35. solicitous
    showing hovering attentiveness
    He was solicitous about lighting her cigarette and inquiring as to her comfort.
  36. vestibule
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    When the train clanked in he was out on the cement platform, peering into the chair-cars, and as he saw her in the line of passengers moving toward the vestibule he waved his hat.
  37. imperturbable
    marked by extreme calm and composure
    Larger and ever more imperturbable was the mountain in the star-filtered darkness, and the lake a limitless pavement of black marble.
  38. brevity
    the use of concise expressions
    After supper Joe proposed a game of stud-poker but Babbitt refused with brevity, and Joe contentedly went to bed at eight.
  39. sedition
    an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority
    “Ingram? But, why, he's this nut preacher that got kicked out of the Congregationalist Church, isn't he, and preaches free love and sedition?”
  40. yokel
    a person who is not intelligent or interested in culture
    He had tried to “make” the football team as a light half-back, he was looking forward to the basket-ball season, he was on the committee for the Freshman Hop, and (as a Zenithite, an aristocrat among the yokels) he was being “rushed” by two fraternities.
Created on Wed Aug 04 15:46:53 EDT 2021 (updated Tue Aug 10 14:17:21 EDT 2021)

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