Billy Budd, Sailor Vocab

By: Mady Welsh

Click on a word to learn more about the word! prosaic

preachment

ruminate

vocation

salutary

vainglorious

incarnate

prevalent

thence

athwart

jovial

gyved

congregation

volition

vicissitude

cynosure

jocosely

equivocal

venerated

irreconcilable

parleying

dexterity

shrewd

coxswain

vehemently befell

frigates

remissness

fidelity

pithy

err

prudence

demarcation

discerning

juxtaposition

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Prosaic

Part of speech: adjective Definition: ordinary or dull Sentence: That signal object was the Handsome
Sailor of the less prosaic time alike of the military and merchant navies.

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Vainglorious

Part of speech: adjective Definition: excessive pride in your achievement Sentence: With no perceptible trace of the
vainglorious about him, rather with the offhand unaffectedness of natural regality, he seemed to accept the spontaneous homage of his shipmates.

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Jovial

Part of speech: adjective Definition: joyous humor or a spirit of good-fellowship Sentence: In jovial sallies right and left, his white
teeth flashing into view, he rollicked along, the center of a company of his shipmates.

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Cynosure

Part of speech: noun Definition: something that strongly attracts attention

by its brilliance Sentence: Though our new-made foretopman was well received in the top and on the gun decks, hardly here was he that cynosure had previously been among those minor ships companies only had he hitherto consorted. Page: 12

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Parleying

Part of speech: noun Definition: a discussion or conference Sentence: Though after parleyings between
government and the ringleaders, and concessions by the former as to some glaring abuses, the first uprising that at Spithead-with difficulty was put down, or at matters for the time pacified; yet at the Nore the unforeseen renewal of insurrection on a yet larger scale, and emphasized in the conferences that ensued by demands deemed by the authorities not only inadmissible but aggressively insolent, indicated-if the Red Flag did not sufficiently do so-what was the spirit animating the men. Page: 19

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Frigates

Part of speech: noun Definition: a warship in the United States Navy Sentence: Elsewhere it has been said that in the lack
of frigates (of course better sailers then line-of-battle ships) in the English squadron up the Straits at that period, the Bellipotent 74 was occasionally employed not only as an available substitution for a scout, but at times on detached service of more important kind. Page: 70

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Err

Part of speech: verb Definition: be mistaken or incorrect Sentence: I am going to err into such a bypath. Page: 20

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Preachment

Part of speech: noun Definition: dogmatic instruction Sentence: He refined too from making the occasion an
opportunity for any preachment as to the maintenance of discipline, thinking perhaps that under existing circumstances in the navy the consequence of violating discipline should be made to speak for itself.

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Incarnate

Part of speech: adjective Definition: embodied in flesh Sentence: But now lying between the two guns, as
nipped in the vice of fate, Billys agony, mainly proceeding from a generous young hearts virgin experience of the diabolical incarnate and effective in some men-the tension of that agony was over now.

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Gyved

Part of speech: noun Definition: a shackle, especially for the leg Sentence: For now and then then in the gyved ones
trance a serene happy light born of some wandering reminiscene or dream would diffuse itself over his face, and then wane away only anew to return.

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Jocosely

Part of speech: adverb Definition: in a cheery or happy manor Sentence: Some apparent ground there was for this sort
of confidential criticism; since not only did the captains discourse never fall into the jocosely familiar, but in illustrating of any point touching the stirring personages and events of the time he would be as apt to cite some historic character or incident of antiquity as he would be to cite from the moderns. Page: 31

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Dexterity

Part of speech: noun Definition: skill in performing tasks Sentence: The will to it and the sinister dexterity alike
wanting.

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Remissness

Part of speech: adjective Definition: negligent in the work or duty Sentence: He resolved that never through remissness
would he make himself liable to such a visitation or do or omit aught that might merit even verbal reproof.

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Prudence

Part of speech: adjective Definition: acting with or showing care and thought
for the future

Sentence: Long experience had likely brought this old

man to that bitter prudence which never interferes in aught and never gives advice.

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Ruminate

Part of speech: verb Definition: think deeply about something Sentence: But it does not follow. Why? they will
ruminate.

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Prevalent

Part of speech: adjective Definition: widespread in a particular area in a

particular time Sentence: No, but he was wholly without irrational fear of it, a fear more prevalent in highly civilized communities than those so-called barbarous ones which in all respects stand nearer to unadulterate Nature. Page: 110

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Congregation

Part of speech: noun Definition: a group of people assembled for religious

worship

Sentence: Their captains announcement was listened

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to by the throng of standing sailors in a dumbness like that of a seated congregation of believers in hell listening to the clergymans announcement of his Calvinism text. Page: 105

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Equivocal

Part of speech: adjective Definition: open to more than one interpretation Sentence: Not noted by Billy as not coming within his
view was the involuntary smile, or rather grimace, that accompanied Claggarts equivocal words,

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Shrewd

Part of speech: adjective Definition: having or showing sharp powers of

judgment

Sentence: Yes, shrewd ones may think so. Page: 69

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Fidelity

Part of speech: noun Definition: faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief

through loyalty or support

Sentences: Albert was the captains hammock boy, a

sort of sea valet in whose discretion and fidelity his master had much confidence.

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Demarcation

Part of speech: noun Definition: the action of fixing the boundary or limits
of something Sentence: But in some supposed cases, in various degrees supposedly less pronounced, to draw the exact line of demarcation few will undertake, though for a fee becoming considerate some professional experts will. Page: 87

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Vocation

Part of speech: vocation Definition: a strong feeling for a particular career or

position

Sentences: So he insisted not in his vocation here. Page: 111

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Thence

Part of speech: adverb Definition: from a place or source recently mentioned Sentence: In his official tone he bade the foretopman
retire to a state-room aft (pointed out), and there remain till thence summoned.

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Volition

Part of speech: noun Definition: the faculty or power of using ones will Sentence: Without volition, as it were, as if the ships
populace were but the vehicles of some vocal current electric, with one voice from alow and aloft came a resonant sympathetic echo: God bless Captain Vere! And in that instant Billy alone must have been in their hearts, even as in their eyes. Page: 115

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Venerated

Part of speech: verb Definition: regard with great respect Sentence: Everything is for a term venerated in
navies.

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Coxswain

Part of speech: noun Definition: the steersman of a ships boat, lifeboat,

racing boat, or other boat

Sentence: Wonder if hes going to make me his

coxswain.

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Pithy

Part of speech: adjective Definition: (of language or style) concise and

forcefully expressive Sentence: Yes, despite the Danskers pithy insistence as to the master-at-arms being at the bottom of these strange experiences of Billy onboard the Bellipotent, the young sailor was ready to ascribe them to almost anybody but the man who, to use Billys own expression, always had a pleasant word for him. Page: 64

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Discerning

Part of speech: adjective Definition: having or showing good judgment Sentence: But, at heart and not for nothing, as the
late chance encounter may indicate to the discerning, down on him, secretly down on him, he assuredly was.

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Salutary

Part of speech: adjective Definition: (esp. with reference to something

unwelcome or unpleasant) producing good effects

Sentence: The promptitude of the punishment has

proved salutary.

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Athwart

Part of speech: preposition Definition: from side to side of Sentence: Turning, he to-and-fro paced the cabin
athwart; in the returning ascent to wind-ward climbing the slant deck in the ships lee roll, without knowing it symbolizing thus in his action a mind result to surmount difficulties even if against primitive instincts strong as the wind and the sea. Page: 95

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Vicissitude

Part of speech: noun Definition: a change of circumstance or fortune,

typically one that is unpleasant

Sentence: As to his enforced enlistment, that he

seemed to take pretty much as he was wont to take vicissitude of weather.

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Irreconcilable

Part of speech: adjective Definition: representing findings or points of view

that are so different from each other that they cannot be made compatible

Sentence: Now envy and antipathy, passions

irreconcilable in reason, nevertheless in fact may spring conjoined like Chang and Eng in one birth.

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Vehemently

Part of speech: adjective Definition: showing strong feeling Sentence: Again starting, he vehemently exclaimed,
Struck dead by an angle of God, yet the angle must hang!

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Befell

Part of speech: verb Definition: (of something bad) happen to someone Sentence: Not many days after the last incident
narrated, something befell Billy Budd that more graveled him than aught that had previously occurred.

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Juxtaposition

Part of speech: noun Definition: the fact of two things being seen or placed
close together with contrasting effect

Sentence: Now there can exist no juxtaposition of

dissimilar personalities comparable to that which is possible aboard a great warship fully manned and at sea.

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