The Catcher in the Rye - Vocabulary

Cather in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (disclaimer: not one of my personal favorite books, yet it's one of the books most U.S. high school students have to read)

VOCABULARY - The Catcher in the Rye

Chapters 1 - 4
Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided.

1. . . . my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything personal about them.

2. The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train.

3. Do you have any particular qualms about leaving Pencey?

4. . . . he made us have compulsory study hall in the academic building . . . .

5. I started groping around in front of me, like a blind guy, but without getting up or anything.

6. I was pretty sadistic with him quite often.

7. It was very ironical. It really was. "I'm the one that's flunking out of the goddam place, and you're asking me to write you a goddam composition," I said.

8. All I need's an audience. I'm an exhibitionist.

Part II: Determining the Meaning: Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

_____ 1.	hemorrhages	A. Getting pleasure from inflicting pain on others
_____ 2.	ostracized	B. One who likes to show off and get attention
_____ 3.	qualms	C. Bursting of blood vessels
_____ 4.	compulsory	D. Meaning the opposite of what is expressed
_____ 5.	groping	E. Shunned; excluded; left out
_____ 6.	sadistic	F. Reaching blindly
_____ 7.	ironical	G. Feelings of doubt
_____ 8.	exhibitionist	H. Required; must be done

Vocabulary - The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 5 - 9

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided.

9. If you knew Stradlater, you'd have been worried, too. . . . He was unscrupulous.

10. It partly scared me and it partly fascinated me.

11. I'm not too tough. I'm a pacifist if you want to know the truth.

12. My grandmother'd just sent me a wad about a week before. I have this grandmother that's quite lavish with her dough.

13. It's not a paradise or anything, but it's as good as most schools. Some of the faculty are pretty conscientious.

14. Well, a bunch of us wanted old Ernie to be president of the class. I mean he was the unanimous choice.

15. . . . I don't want to stay at any hotels on the East Side where I might run into some acquaintances of mine. I'm traveling incognito.

Part II: Determining the Meaning: Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

_____ 9.	unscrupulous	A. Attentive to duty; diligent
____ 10.	fascinated	B. In disguise
_____11.	pacifist	C. Having no moral code; unprincipled
_____12.	lavish	D. Generous or liberal in giving or spending
_____13.	conscientious	E. Held the attention of; captivated
_____14.	unanimous	F. One who opposes the use of force under any circumstances
_____15.	incognito	G. Showing or based on total agreement

Vocabulary - The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 10 - 13

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided.

16. The band was putrid. Buddy singer. Very brassy, but not good brassy--corny brassy.

17. . . . the whole summer long we played tennis together almost every morning and golf almost every afternoon. I really got to know her quite intimately.

18. . . . old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very phony, humble bow.

19. One thing I have, it's a terrific capacity. I can drink all night and not even show it, if I'm in the mood.

20. He got stinking, but I hardly didn't even show it. I just got very cool and nonchalant.

21. Do you mind getting me my frock?


Part II: Determining the Meaning Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

_____ 16.	putrid	A. Ability to contain, absorb, receive and hold
_____ 17.	intimately	B. Rotten
_____ 18.	humble	C. Showing a lack of concern; casual indifference
_____ 19.	capacity	D. Coat; cloak
_____ 20.	nonchalant	E. Privately, personally, very closely
_____ 21.	frock	F. Lowly; unpretentious

Vocabulary - The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 14 - 17

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided.

22. . . . I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible.

23. . . . He picked them at random. I said He didn't have time to go around analyzing everybody.

24. He was always saying snotty things about them, my suitcases for instance. He kept saying they were too new and bourgeois.

25. She'd hand in her basket and then go someplace swanky for lunch. That's what I liked about those nuns. You could tell, for one thing, that they never went anywhere swanky for lunch. It made me so damn sad when I thought about it, their never going anywhere swanky for lunch or anything.

26. . . . he was one of the biggest bores I ever met. He had one of those very raspy voices, and he never stopped talking, practically.

27. He was with some gorgeous blonde, and the two of them were trying to be very blase' and all, like as if he didn't even know people were looking at him.


Part II: Determining the Meaning Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

_____ 22.	atheist	A. Smug, conventional, materialistic
_____ 23.	random	B. Grating
_____ 24.	bourgeois	C. A person who believes there is no God
_____ 25.	swanky	D. Having done something so much as to be bored by it
_____ 26.	blase'	E. Expensive and showy
_____ 27.	raspy	F. Haphazardly; by chance

Vocabulary - The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 18 - 21

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided.

28. Jane said he wasn't a show-off. She said he had an inferiority complex.

29. The bartender was a louse, too.

30. He kept telling her she had aristocratic hands.

31. . . . I was careful as hell not to get boisterous or anything. I didn't want anybody to notice me . . . .

32. All of them swimming around in a goddam pot of tea and saying sophisticated stuff to each other and being charming and phony.

33. I have this one stupid aunt with halitosis that kept saying how peaceful he looked lying there.


Part II: Determining the Meaning Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

_____28.	inferiority	A. Noisy and unruly
_____29.	louse	B. Of an upper class; distinguished
_____30.	aristocratic	C. Bad smelling breath
_____31.	boisterous	D. Strong feelings of inadequacy
_____32.	sophisticated	E. A person regarded as mean or contemptible
_____33.	halitosis	F. Worldly wise; refined

LAST ONE!!!!

Vocabulary - The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 22 - 26

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided.

34. All they did with the guys that were in the room with him was expel them. They didn't even go to jail.

35. She gets headaches quite frequently.

36. And if the boy digresses at all, you're supposed to yell. "Digression!" at him as fast as you can.

37. Holden . . . One short, faintly stuffy, pedagogical question. Don't you think there's a time and place for everything?

38. Or you may end up in some business office, throwing paper clips at the nearest stenographer.

39. You'll learn from them--if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement.


Part II: Determining the Meaning Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

_____34.	expel	A. Strays temporarily from the main topic
_____35.	frequently	B. Characteristic of teaching or teachers
_____36.	digresses	C. Interchangeable; complimentary
_____37.	pedagogical	D. Often
_____38.	stenographer	E. One who takes shorthand
_____39.	reciprocal	F. Push out by force