Our Town Glossary

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