Lost in Yonkers

Lost in Yonkers Glossary

Yonkers

A former manufacturing town and bedroom community in southeastern New York, on the Hudson River, just north of the Bronx in New York City.

bluffing

trying to deceive someone, lying.

rally

a mass meeting of people showing support for a cause.

pulling your leg

joking.

usher

Someone who takes tickets or shows patrons to their seats.

handicap

condition that limits someone physically or mentally.

illiterate

unable to read or write.

dumbstruck

Awed and astonished to the point of speechlessness.

formidable

Tough to be beat; stern and imposing.

heartrending

Capable of causing intense emotional distress exhibited both physically and mentally.

wrenching

A sudden and unanticipated painful twisting of either a physical object or one's emotional state.

mesmerized

In a sedated and suggestible state similar to hypnosis.

satchel

A messenger bag with a shoulder strap and a flap that closes with a clasp.

stoic

accepting things that come one's way without either feeling or displaying extremity of emotions.

moxie

Possessing the quality of spunkiness; fearless and spirited.

congenial

Friendly and approachable.

impervious

Immune, invulnerable, rigid.

absentminded

Forgetful, afflicted with short term memory loss.

obligation

A financial debt owed by one person to another.

hock

To pawn a possession for quick money.

buxom

Full-breasted, voluptuous.

loanshark

A shady underworld character willing to loan money at illegal and outrageous interest with the understanding that non-payment will result in physical harm to the borrower.

henchman

The muscle hired by high-level gangsters to do their dirty work.

dialect

A form of speaking a common language that is specific to an ethnicity, region or group.

James Cagney

An Oscar-winning actor whose career stretched from the 1930s to the 1980s, who is most often identified with a series of gritty movies in which he played a tough gangster.