The Catcher in the Rye Glossary

Glossary of Terms

"kills me"

Holden uses this term whenever something makes him feel pangs of love or similar emotion. For example, the notebooks of young kids "kill" him in that they push him to open up his hardened heart.

ace

top-quality, of the highest order

backasswards

completely wrong, misdirected, or out of order, so backwards that the rear or "ass" is at the fore

Benedict Arnold

perhaps the most famous traitor in American history, a man who fled from the American side during the Revolutionary War in order to give information to the British

bourgeois

pertaining to the phony, middle-class or better lifestyle

Brown Betty

an American dessert of baked pudding that dates back to colonial times

caddy

person who accompanies a golfer on the course and carries his bag of clubs, sometimes giving advice about a shot

Canasta

a card game similar to Rummy in which the object is to score the most points by creating melds of cards of the same rank, playing cards out of one's hand onto the table, eventually playing out all of one's cards

chiffonier

similar to a sideboard, a type of furniture with drawers that serves as a receptacle for odds and ends

cockneyed

shifted to one side

dough

money (slang)

earlap

the flap on a hunter's hat that covers one's ear to protect it from the weather

falsies

artificial breast enhancers worn inside one's dress

flitty

appearing homosexual

Flys Up

a playground variation of baseball where whoever catches a fly ball gets the next turn at bat

furlough

a break in action or temporary leave of absence, usually in the military

get wise with

to make sexual advances

give her the time

to have intercourse with a female

Gladstone

type of luggage

grippe

influenza; the flu

halitosis

a condition of having bad-smelling breath

highball

an alcoholic drink usually involving whisky in a tall glass

louse

a contemptible person

neck

to kiss or make out

pacifist

a person who is against war and believes in peace as a matter of principle (Holden calls himself one)

Peter Lorre

a famous character actor

phony

anyone who is inauthentic; one who lives on the surface or subscribes to artifice (Holden believes that most adults are phonies)

prince

a "good guy"; someone who is valorous and noble

ratty

tattered, dilapidated

rubbernecks

people who turn their heads to watch something out of curiosity, especially when it is none of their business

rye

grass grown as a food crop, closely related to wheat and barley

shadow punching

boxing against an imaginary opponent

snowing

fooling; pulling the wool over someone's eyes

strong box

a safe for storing valuables

Tattersall

a cloth pattern

the Lunts

famous stage actors who drew large crowds

West Point

famous military academy in the United States

wooden press

a kind of case for a wooden tennis racket, which kept it from warping (prior to modern tennis rackets made of other materials)