Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 4

Lesson 4

It’s time for another vocab list, the fourth from Gone With the Wind.

Lesson 1 started here.

spavins, heaves p 93—about intermarrying: “When my family asked me to marry a second cousin, I bucked like a colt. I said, ‘No, Ma. Not for me. My children will all have spavins and heaves.’”
—bony enlargement; breathing problems, persistent cough

temporized, p 93—Maybe there won’t be any war,” Mrs. Tarelton temporized.
—to act to suit the time or occasion; yield to current or dominant opinion

bridling, p 98—Suellen was bridling in a way that made Scarlett want to slap her.
—to show hostility or resentment (as to an affront to one’s pride or dignity)

corsage, p 10 —the corsage of her dress
—the waist or bodice of a dress

bull fiddle, p 167—named in the instruments played at the bazaar
—double bass

gaiters, pp 168, 276— named in garments worm
—a cloth or leather leg covering reaching from the instep to above the ankle or to mid-calf or knee; an overshoe with fabric upper b: an ankle-high shoe with elastic gores in the sides

lese majesty, p 184—Rhett . . . whispered: “Pompous goat, isn’t he?” Scarlett, at first horrified, at this lese majesty toward Atlanta’s most beloved citizen
an attack on a custom, institution, or belief held sacred by numbers of people

lachrymose, p 195—Over the waffles next morning, Pittypat was lachrymose, Melanie was silent and Scarlett was defiant.
—given to tears or weeping