| commence | to have or make a beginning |
| victuals | food usable by people; supplies of food |
| trance | stupor, daze; a sleeplike state; a state of profound abstraction or absorbation |
| Providence | divine guidance or care |
| whale | lash, thrash; to strike or hit vigorously; to defeat soundly |
| genies | a spirit that gives servance |
| temperance | moderation in action, thought, or feelings, or passions and alcohol |
| nabob | a person of great wealth or prominence |
| delirium tremens | a violent delirium with tremors induced by alcoholic liquors |
| quicksilver | mercury |
| abolitionist | one that wishes to abolish slavery |
| speculate | to meditate or ponder a subject; to assume a risk; to take to be true; to be curious |
| thrash | to beat soundly as if with a whip; to go over again and again |
| reticule | a transparent material used for measuring or aiming; a woman’s drawstring bag |
| contrived | devise or plan; to bring about by stratagem or with ifficulty |
| derrick | a hoisting apparatus employing a tackle rigged at the end of a beam; a frameword or tower for supporting tackle |
| skiff | a flat-bottomed rowboat |
| rapscallions | a mean, unprincipled, or dishonest person; rascal |
| gaudy | ostentatiously or tastelessly ornamented; marked by extravagance |
| infernal | of or relating to a nether world of the dead |
| outlandish | strikingly out of the ordinary; exceeding proper or reasonable limits or standards |
| pensive | musingly or dreamily thoughtful; suggestive of sad thoughtfulness |
| obituaries | a notice of a person’s death usually with a short biographical account |
| aristocracy | government by the best individuals or by a small privileged class |
| mesmerism | hypnotic appeal |
| phrenology | the study of the of the conformation of the skull to find mental health |
| cipher | zero; a message in code |
| dissipating | to break up and drive off; to spend wastefully |
| histrionic | deliberately affected; relating to actors |
| muse | to become absorbed in thought |
| benefactor | one that makes a gift or bequest |
| pious | showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship |
| scoundrel | a disreputable person; rascal |
| impostor | one that assumes false identity for the purpose of deception |
| melodeum | a small keyboard organ |
| shoal | to become shallow; a sandbank or sandbar |
| ingenious | showing or calling for intelligence; marked by aptitude at discovering or originality |
| disposition | to put into place; prevailing tendency, mood, or inclination |
| shirk | to go stealthily; to evade the performance of an obligation |
| bogus | counterfeit; sham |
| impudent | lacking modesty; marked by contemptuous or cocky boldness or disregard |
| cavorting | to leap or dance lively; to engage in extravagant behavior |
| brash | brittle; heedless of the consequences |
| remiss | showing neglect or inattention |
| insurrection | an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government |
| addled | to become rotten or confused |
| singular | relating to a separate person or thing; distinguished by superiority; being out of the ordinary |
Huckleberry Finn Vocab
June 4, 2020