MAUS Study Guide

Glossary of Terms

Absolution

Forgiveness of an offense; a setting free from guilt or sin

Abundant

Amply supplied

Anti-Semitism

A prejudice against Jews

Aryan

A term used by the Nazis to signify the "master race" of people of northern European descent

Barrack

A building or set of buildings used especially for lodging soldiers in garrison

Bungalow

A small house or cottage, usually containing a single story

Cataract

A clouding of the lens of the eye or the surrounding transparent membrane that obstructs the passage of light

Claustrophobic

Having a fear or dread of closed spaces

Conjugate

To list the forms of a verb

Convalesce

To recover health and strength gradually after a sickness or weakness

Crematorium

An establishment containing a furnace for burning (usually bodies)

Dowry

The money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage

Gefilte Fish

A ground, deboned fish recipe using a variety of kosher fish meat

Gestapo

The official secret police of Nazi Germany

Ghetto

A quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure

Governess

A woman who cares for and supervises a child, especially in a private household

Marks

German currency

Meshuga

Yiddish word for "crazy" or "foolish"

Miserly

Stingy, cautious with money

Munitions

Ammunition, armaments

Naugahyde

A synthetic leather made from plastic

Nitrostat

Medicine taken for relief of angina, chest pains caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart muscle

Notary

An officer who can administer oaths and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate documents, and perform certain other official acts

Nu

A Yiddish word roughly equivalent to "so?" or "well?"

Oy Gevalt

A Yiddish expression of exasperation

Pogrom

An organized massacre of helpless people, especially of Jews

Pragmatic

Practical, as opposed to idealistic

Presumptuous

Overconfident, audacious, arrogant

Sanitarium

An institution for rest and recuperation

Schnell

A German word meaning "faster"

Sheik

An Arab chief; a man held to be irresistibly attractive to romantic young women

Shrink

A slang term for a psychiatrist

Shvartser

A Yiddish word for a black or African-American man

Textile

A woven or knit cloth; a fiber, filament, or yarn used in making cloth

Tuchus

A Yiddish word meaning "rear end"

Valentino, Rudolph

A movie star in the 1920s, one of the first great Hollywood sex symbols

Valise

A suitcase

Wehrmacht

A German word for the Nazi armed forces

Yiddish

A language written in Hebrew and spoken by Jews

Zloty

A unit of Polish currency