Animal Farm by George Orwell VOCABULARY – Chapter 1

scullery Small kitchen Work area at the back of a house He drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery.

ensconce Establish, settle in place Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw.

benevolent Good, kindly Major was a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut.

cynical mocking, critical Benjamin seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark.

laborious Requiring hard work (labor) Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.

fate development of events beyond one’s control Even the horses and the dogs have no better fate.

tyranny cruel, oppressive use of power All the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings.

dissentients those who oppose majority opinion (those who dissent) There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.

vice Immoral or wicked behavior, weakness in character Even when you have conquered Man, do not adopt his vices. No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade. All the habits of Man are evil.

number 6 shot Small balls of lead (smaller number = larger balls of lead) “He let fly a charge of number 6 shot into the darkness.”

Animal Farm by George Orwell VOCABULARY – Chapter 2

preeminent Superior, above all others Preeminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon.

vivacious Full of life; animated Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon.

nimble Quick and light in movement The best known among them was a small fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice.

apathy Lack of interest or concern At the beginning they met with much stupidity and apathy.

contrary Opposite, or opposing The pigs had great difficulty in making them see that this was contrary to the spirit of Animalism.

With one accord All together, as one With one accord, they flung themselves upon their tormentors.

caper To skip or prance about All the animals capered with joy when they saw the whips going up in flames.

gambol To run and jump playfully They gamboled round and round.

spinney Small area of trees and bushes Then they made a tour of inspection of the whole farm and surveyed with speechless admiration the ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool, the spinney.

Animal Farm by George Orwell VOCABULARY – Chapter 3

acute Sharp, intense Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure.

parasitical Freeloading, hanging on With the worthless parasitical human beings gone, there was more for everyone to eat.

chaff Husks, worthless part They had to tread the corn out in the ancient style and blow away the chaff with their breath.

shirk To avoid work or duty Nobody shirked--or almost nobody.

obstinate Stubborn, unwilling to change Old Benjamin did his work in the same slow obstinate way as he had done it in Jones's time.

cryptic Puzzling, having hidden or secret meaning The others had to be content with this cryptic answer..

paddock Small field where horses are kept or exercised It was resolved to set aside the small paddock behind the orchard as a home of rest for animals who were past work.

maxim Short phrase expressing a rule or truth The Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim.

propulsion manipulation The act of driving or pushing forward The act of handling or controlling skillfully A bird's wing is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation.

Animal Farm by George Orwell VOCABULARY – Chapter 4

perpetually Repeatedly; never ending Its owner was perpetually involved in lawsuits. They were perpetually fighting among themselves.

tractable Easy to control or influence Bulls which had always been tractable suddenly turned savage

flogging A beating with a whip or stick Any animal caught singing it was given a flogging on the spot.

irrepressible Not able to be restrained or controlled (repressed) And yet the song was irrepressible.

din Loud, unpleasant prolonged noise The blackbirds whistled it in the hedges, the pigeons cooed it in the elms, it got into the din of the smithies and the tune of the church bells.

fifteen stone British; one “stone” is equal to 14 pounds Snowball flung his fifteen stone against Jones's legs.

ignominious Shameful, embarrassing, disgraceful Within five minutes of their invasion, they were in ignominious retreat.

impromptu Spontaneous, done without planning An impromptu celebration of the victory was held immediately

posthumous Awarded (or occurring) after death "Animal Hero, Second Class” was conferred posthumously on the dead sheep.

confer To grant, bestow, or award "Animal Hero, Second Class” was conferred posthumously on the dead sheep.

Animal Farm by George Orwell VOCABULARY – Chapter 5

Animal Farm by George Orwell VOCABULARY – Chapter 5

pretext A reason given that is not the real reason! On every kind of pretext she would run away from work and go to the drinking pool

blithe Casual disregard or lack of concern (negative) Mollie strolled blithely into the yard.

manifestly obviously The pigs were manifestly cleverer than the other animals

canvass To request or obtain support Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times.

unintelligible Impossible to understand The other animals found the plans completely unintelligible but very impressive.

aloof Cool and distant Only Napoleon held aloof.

faction Small, dissenting break-off group (within a larger one) The animals formed themselves into two factions. Benjamin was the only animal who did not side with either faction.

restive Unable to keep still The animals on the neighbouring farms were more restive than ever.

sordid Shameful, dirty, dishonorable In glowing sentences he painted a picture of Animal Farm as it might be when sordid labour was lifted from the animals' backs.

marshal To arrange or put order to He set his ears back, shook his forelock several times, and tried hard to marshal his thoughts.