Cannery Row

Cannery Row Glossary

alacrity

(n) cheerful promptness and eagerness

centrifugality

(n) a state of moving away from the center

concomitants

(n) accompanying things

concupiscent

(adj) full of sexual desire

decrepit

(adj) old, rundown

erudite

(n) knowledge gained by studying and academia

excelsior

(n) a piece of wood used for packing

floriated

(adj) ornamented with floral designs

floundered

(v) moved about with difficulty in obtaining stability and footing

lucency

(n) a state of being luminous, glowing

magnanimously

(adv) acting in a lofty and generous fashion

malarkey

(n) foolish talk

mallow

(n) a type of herb

mollified

(v) calmed, appeased

panoply

(n) a collection of many things

penance

(n) an act showing remorse for a past deed

peroration

(n) a rhetorical and stylized speech

quavered

(v) uttered something in a trembling tone

sere

(adj) dry, barren

tunicates

(n) any of a subphylum (Urochordata syn. Tunicata) of marine chordate animals (as ascidians) that are filter feeders having a thick secreted covering layer, a greatly reduced nervous system, and only in the larval stage a notochord (m-w.com)