Glossary of Terms
Abrupt: Sudden
Barren: Empty
Contriving: Scheming, planning
Epitaph: Short verse or phrase inscribed on a headstone
Eternal: Lasting forever, enduring
Gingham: A cotton fabric, usually striped or checked
Highboy: A tall chest of drawers
Incubator: Apparatus in which eggs are hatched artificially
Livery: A business that rents out horses (or automobiles, nowadays)
Lugubrious: Mournful, dismal
Miser: A stingy, money-grubbing person
Patent: An invention or product that the government ensures will only be sold or manufactured by a particular individual or company for a certain number of years
Phosphate: A carbonated drink with fruit syrup
Proscenium: The arch that separates the stage from the audience
Rheumatism: Pain and stiffness in the back and joints, accompanying old age
Sacrament: A Christian rite that symbolizes or confers grace upon the Christian individual and his community. In Catholicism, the seven sacraments are baptism, communion, the Eucharist, matrimony, penance, holy orders, and extreme unction.
Superstition: A belief in the ominous significance of certain symbols or occurences
Tableau: A scene frozen in action
Trellis: Archway, often with flowers
unobtrusively: Not getting in the way, unnoticed
Vacant: Empty, unoccupied
ClassicNote on Our Town
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