| antebellum |
in or of the period prior to a war, especially the American Civil War. |
| bilge |
the rounded part of a ship's hull between the bottom and the sides. |
| cavalier |
carefree and offhand; nonchalant. |
| coeval |
coinciding in time of origin or existence; contemporary. |
| curmudgeon |
an irritable or ill-tempered person. |
| demarcate |
to set apart or separate, as if with boundaries. |
| derision |
mockery or ridicule. |
| descry |
to see or make out, especially something obscured or at a distance. |
| disheveled |
not neat; messy. |
| impute |
to ascribe or attribute to a source or cause. |
| interdict |
to deter or impede by the steady use of firepower. |
| pedagogy |
the act, process, or profession of teaching. |
| peroration |
the concluding part of a speech in which there is a summing up of the principal points. |
| Saturnalia |
an occasion of unrestrained revelry. |
| stickler |
one who must observe or conform to something (usually followed by "for"). |