Christmas Carol Vocabulary

Students read the vocabulary words and definitions in the order they appear in the text.

Christmas Carol Vocabulary Word Lists

The Vocabulary Word Lists for The Christmas Carol provides the words and their definitions in the order they appear in the text.

Students can fold the lists into third to make convenient bookmarks and understand unfamiliar words in the context of the passage.

The Vocabulary Word Lists are from our Christmas Carol Unit Study.

Vocabulary Words for Stave I

‘Change - short for “exchange” - a center of banking and commerce
Legatee - heir
Dismal - gloomy
Morose - cheerless
Involuntarily - not meaning to; automatic response
Impropriety - improper act
Situation - employment used to be called “your situation”
Resolute - determined
Cordially - friendly
Bedlam - a mental institute in London, the word later became associated with chaos or insanity
Portly - large, chubby
Liberality - generosity, tendency to give large amounts to others
Congeal - turned to a solid state
Misanthropic - man-hating
Congenial - friendly
Tacitly - implied without using words
Melancholy - gloomy
Fain - willing
Impenetrable - light could not penetrate or fall on the object
Livid - bluish discoloration (can also mean anger)
Lumber room - storage room where wealthy people kept valuable furniture (usually wooden) they were not using
Hob - shelf in a fireplace to keep food warm
Cravat - cloth worn around the neck
Bowels - intestines, inner organs
Phantom - ghost
Incredulous - not believing
Caustic - critical
Waggish - silly humor
Spectre - visible ghost
Deuce - card game, game with two dice, or a reference to the devil
Appalling - horrible
Swoon - faint
Apparition - appearance of a supernatural being
Fettered - chained
Ponderous - large, heavy
Convey - brought
Incessant - unending
Procure - to get or obtain
Erect - straight
Repose - rest

Buy Our Christmas Carol Unit Study

Christmas Carol Worksheet Christmas Carol Teachers Key
Student Worksheets, Vocabulary Lists, & Teacher's Answer Key Included
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Vocabulary Words for Stave II

Here are the less familiar words and definitions as they appear in Stave II of "A Christmas Carol."

Transparent - able to see through
Opaque - opposite of transparent, an object light or vision does not penetrate
“Struck the four quarters” - large clocks would chime once at the quarter hour, twice at half past the hour, and four times at the hour. After the four chimes at the hour, it would “clang” once for each hour (ie five times for five o’clock, etc.)
Repeater - pocket watch that could chime on the quarter hour
Reverently - with respect or honor
Disclaimed - denied
Obliged - thankful
Conducive - helpful
Supplication - request, here has the connotation of begging
Vestige - trace or mark
Jocund - jolly
Solitary - single, alone
Cupola - steeple-like structure on a school or town house
Melancholy - gloomy
Lath - strips of wood behind a plaster wall
Loth - loathe or unwilling
Ferocious - like a wild beast
Condescension - state of looking down at another
Gainsay - argue or disagree
Capacious - large, roomy
Negus - alcoholic beverage
Avarice - greed
Pinion - to bind arms or wings
Matron - olderly, motherly woman
Tumultuous - loud, noisy
Pillage - violently robbed
Brigands - bandits or pirates
Cravat - necktie
Pommel - strike with fists

Christmas Carol Vocabulary Stave III

Prodigious - large
Despatch - send
Plume - dress oneself with plumes or long fellows or other fancy dress; also to pride yourself on being important
Ruddy - reddish color
Bade - the past tense of “bid,” commanded, ordered
Petrification - turned into stone
Dogged - stubborn
Reverently - with honor or awe
Capacious - large capacity
Artifice - physical object
Ample - large in number or size
Genial - friendly
Compulsion - forced or required to go
Aught - anything
Jovial - happy, joyful
Parapet - stone wall
Facetious - not serious
Apoplectic - literally - a stroke; figuratively-ready to burst
Oppulence - extreme wealthy
Gratis - free, no charge
Filberts - hazelnuts
Norfolk Biffin (or Norfolk Beefing) - a red apple cultivated in Norfolk, England
Squab - fat and fluffy
Swarthy - dark color
Bilious - cranky from too much bile from overeating