Unit 4: Vocabulary from Readings

This list covers "maggie and milly and molly and may," "The Raven," "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf," "The Highwaymen of Hounslow Heath," "The Highwayman," "We Wear the Mask," "William Shakespeare," and Twelfth Night.
22 words 5 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. languid
    lacking spirit or liveliness
    milly befriended a stranded star
    whose rays five languid fingers were
  2. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    “Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore..."
  3. obeisance
    bending the head or body in reverence or submission
    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door
  4. countenance
    the appearance conveyed by a person's face
    Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
    By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore
  5. craven
    an abject coward
    “Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
    Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore
  6. divine
    perceive through some inexplicable perceptive powers
    This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
    To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
    This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
  7. leer
    a suggestive or sneering look or grin
    Then added with a frightful leer,
    “I’m therefore going to wait right here
    Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
    Comes home from walking in the wood.”
  8. audacious
    disposed to venture or take risks
    And when one audacious villain pasted notices on the doors of rich Londoners telling them they should not venture forth with less than a watch and 10 guineas, the whole town was convulsed with laughter.
  9. antiquarian
    expert in or collector of artifacts or objects from the past
    When James Maclaine accidentally wounded Horace Walpole while attempting to rob him, the antiquarian bore no grudge and wrote to tell him so.
  10. claret
    a dark purplish-red color
    A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
  11. guile
    shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
    We wear the mask that grins and lies,
    It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes—
    This debt we pay to human guile;
    With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
    And mouth with myriad subtleties.
  12. myriad
    too numerous to be counted
    We wear the mask that grins and lies,
    It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes—
    This debt we pay to human guile;
    With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
    And mouth with myriad subtleties.
  13. plague
    a serious infection of rodents transmitted to humans
    And William was lucky to survive. When he was just a baby, in 1564, plague killed about 200 people in Stratford – 1 in 5 of the population.
  14. grammar school
    a secondary school emphasizing Latin and Greek in preparation for college
    From the age of seven, boys like William went to grammar school. There was one in Stratford and it is still there today. But schooling was different then. The boys learned to read, speak and write in Latin. They also had to memorise and perform stories from history – useful skills for an actor and writer.
  15. surfeit
    become sickeningly sweet or excessive
    If music be the food of love, play on;
    Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
    The appetite may sicken, and so die.
  16. gait
    a person's manner of walking
    Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her;
    Be not denied access, stand at her doors,
    And tell them, there thy fixed foot shall grow
    Till thou have audience.
  17. clamorous
    conspicuously and offensively loud
    Be clamorous and leap all civil bounds
    Rather than make unprofited return.
  18. usurp
    seize and take control without authority
    Viola: Are you the lady of the house?
    Olivia: If I do not usurp myself, I am.
    Viola: Most certain, if you are she, you do usurp yourself; for what is yours to bestow is not yours to reserve.
  19. feigned
    not genuine
    It is the more like to be feigned: I pray you, if you have reason, be brief. Speak your office.
  20. consecrated
    made, declared, or believed to be holy
    Now go with me and with this holy man
    Into the chantry by: there, before him,
    And underneath that consecrated roof,
    Plight me the full assurance of your faith
  21. plight
    a situation from which extrication is difficult
    Now go with me and with this holy man
    Into the chantry by: there, before him,
    And underneath that consecrated roof,
    Plight me the full assurance of your faith
  22. dissemble
    make believe with the intent to deceive
    O thou dissembling cub!
Created on Wed Nov 10 17:12:56 EST 2021 (updated Fri Nov 19 09:45:16 EST 2021)

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.