On the Road Study Guide

Glossary of Terms

Alcatraz

a former federal prison located on an island in the San Francisco Bay

barracks

temporary housing

Beat

a term Kerouac coined that represents the lifestyle he and his friends followed during the 1940s and '50s, which gained enough traction that one can call this time in American history the Beat Generation

beatnik

a person who lives the Beat lifestyle, characterized by voluntary poverty, loose sexual morals, drugs, alcohol, and intellectual freedom

Bebop

a type of jazz music

benzedrine

a stimulant drug

bohemian

a person who lives an unconventional lifestyle

bookie

short for bookkeeper; a person who takes bets and pays money depending on the results

Caesarian

a form of childbirth in which the child is brought out of the mother through a cut made in her abdomen

charge

a person in someone's care

Chicano

a person of Mexican-American culture

Coit Tower

an art-deco monument on top of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California

dilapidated

worn down, tired, deteriorating

doldrums

a state of inactivity or stagnation

Dostoevski

a Russian novelist, considered one of the great writers of the 19th century

Embarcadero, The

the eastern waterfront roadway of the Port of San Francisco

fellahin

(pl. fellaheen) a person from a marginalized culture

Frisco

short for San Francisco

harangues

long, often pompous speeches

highball

a glass tumbler used to serve alcohol

hipster

someone influenced by jazz culture

Hudson

a popular brand of car in the 1940s and '50s

hustle

a scam to steal money

jalopy

a broken-down or ragged car

jazz

an American musical style characterized by improvisation and unusual rhythms, made popular by African American musicians starting in the 1930s

kicks

good times, good feelings, a party

Mann Act

a 1910 act that prohibits the transport of women for prostitution or immoral purposes

Okie

someone displaced from Oklahoma during the Great Depression of the 1920s; more generally, a poor white person

Pachuco

a subculture of Mexican-American youth in the 1940s and '50s

patriarch

a man who holds authority over an extended family

pimp

a person who finds and manages prostitutes

Route 66

a famous, historic pre-interstate highway that ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California

shrew

a derogatory term for a woman, especially one with a bad attitude; a rodent

Sierra Madre

a Mexican mountain range

tea

marijuana

tenorman

a jazz musician who plays tenor saxophone

Travel Bureau

an office helping travelers and arranging rides for and among travelers

Truman

Harry S Truman, the thirty-third President of the United States (1945-1953)

W.C. Fields

an American comedic actor