Some Like it Hot

Some Like it Hot Glossary

speakeasy

A secret meeting place to buy liquor during the time in which Prohibition outlawed the sale of alcohol.

conservatory

A school for music.

flask

A portable container for secretly hiding liquor.

hearse

Vehicle that carries a coffin.

embalm

To preserve a corpse in order to retard the rate of decomposition.

syncopation

An unexpected accent or stress of a rhythm.

cahoots

conspiring; secretly working together toward a common goal.

contortionist

Someone who can bend their body into abnormal positions.

shyster

A crooked lawyer.

scram

An urgent and short-tempered admonition to someone else to get lost.

yacht

A large and expensive privately-owned boat used for pleasure cruises.

jazz

Musical genre created in America characterized by extensive use of horn sections and improvisational playing.

The Four-Hundred

Term for the highest level of the social elite in New York City.

Prohibition

Constitutional amendment outlawing the sale of alcohol in the 1920s.

virtuoso

Prodigy; genius; extremely advanced and unusually prodigious skill at doing something, usually conveying a sense of the artistic.

annul

To cancel, terminate or invalidate (as in, a marriage)

goose it up

To make something more exciting or impressive.

beau

Old-fashioned term for a romantic admirer; boyfriend.

vulcanize

To rubberize something by treating it at high temperature.

ulcer

open sore, often caused by stress.