A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

Front 1

Stave

Back 1

set of lines, usually from a song or poem

-name of the chapters

Front 2

Executor

Back 2

one who carries out the terms of a will (a document giving instructions after a person's death)

-Scrooge was his sole _____, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and sole mourner.

Front 3

Rime

Back 3

white mass of tiny ice crystals

-A frosty ___ was on his head, and on his eyebrow, and his wiry chin.

Front 4

Bestow

Back 4

give to someone as a gift

-No beggars implored him to ___ a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge.

Front 5

Palpable

Back 5

able to be touched or felt

-The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already: it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the ___ brown air.

Front 6

Humbug

Back 6

misleading nonsense

-"Bah!" said Scrooge, "____!"

Front 7

Veneration

Back 7

great respect

-"But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round--apart from the ___ due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that--as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long claendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

Front 8

Extinguished

Back 8

put out, like a fire

-The clerk in the Tank involuntarily applauded: becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and ___ the last frail spark for ever.

Front 9

Portly

Back 9

heavyset, stout, or large

-They were ___ gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office.

Front 10

Ominous

Back 10

threatening, serving as an omen

At the ___ of "liberality," Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

Front 11

Destitute

Back 11

without possessions; poor and needy

-"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and ___, who suffer greatly at the present time."

Front 12

Facetious

Back 12

joking, insincere

-Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more ___ temper than was usual with him.

Front 13

Regale

Back 13

entertain with stories or songs

-The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge's keyhole to ___ him with a Christmas carol ...

Front 14

Livid

Back 14

grayish blue

-That, and its ___ color, made it horrible; but its horror seemed to be in spite of the face and beyond its control, rather than a part of its own expression.

Front 15

Incredulous

Back 15

unable to believe

-Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before: he was still ___, and fought against his senses.

Front 16

Ponderous

Back 16

heavy in weight or importance

-"It is a ___ chain!"

Front 17

Incessant

Back 17

unending

-"No rest, no peace. ___ torture of remorse."

Front 18

Benevolence

Back 18

kindness
"The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and ___, were, all, my business."

Front 19

Penance

Back 19

self-punishment to repent for a sin

-"That is no light part of my ___," pursued the Ghost.

Front 20

Lamentation

Back 20

expression of deep sorrow

-Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear: for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of ___ and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory.

Front 21

Melancholy

Back 21

sad and serious

-He spoke before the hour bell sounded, which it now did with a deep, dull, hollow, ___ ONE.

Front 22

Receded

Back 22

became more distant, retreated

-It was a strange figure--like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having ___ from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions.

Front 23

Reverently

Back 23

with deep respect or veneration

-Scrooge ___ disclaimed all intention to offend, or any knowledge of having wilfully "bonneted" the Spirit at any period of his life.

Front 24

Remonstrated

Back 24

protested; complained

-"I am a mortal," Scrooge ___, "and liable to fall."

Front 25

Jocund (pronounced: JOCK und)

Back 25

cheerful

-The ___ travellers came on; and as they came, Scrooge knew and named them every one.

Front 26

Latent

Back 26

hidden and undeveloped

-Not a ___ echo in the house, not a squeak and scuffle from the mice behind the panneling, not a drip from the half-thawed water-spout in the dull yard behind... but fell upon the heart of Scrooge with softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears.

Front 27

Escstasy

Back 27

extreme happiness

-"Why, it's Ali Baba!" Scrooge exclaimed in ___.

Front 28

Condescension

Back 28

looking down on someone in a snobbish manner

-"Bring down Master Scrooge's box, there!" and in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious ___, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.

Front 29

Gainsay

Back 29

deny

-"You're right. I'll not ___ it, Spirit."

Front 30

Capacious

Back 30

roomy, plenty of space

-He rubbed his hands; adjusted his ___ waistcoat; laughed all over himself, from his shoes to his organ of benevolence; and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice...

Front 31

Jovial

Back 31

jolly; good-natured

-...and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, ___ voice: "Yo ho, there! Ebenezer!"

Front 32

Scorning

Back 32

treating as unworthy or unimportant

-But ___ rest upon his reappearance, he instantly began again, though there were no dancers yet, as if the other fiddle had been carried home, exhausted, on a shutter; and he were a brand-new man resolved to beat him out of sight, or perish.

Front 33

Deftly

Back 33

skillfully

-And when old Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone all through the dance; advance and retire, hold hands with your partner; bow and curtsey; corkscrew; thread-the-needle, and back again to your place; Fezziwig "cut"--cut so ___ that he appeared to wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger.

Front 34

Corroborated

Back 34

confirmed

-He ___ everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation.

Front 35

Avarice

Back 35

greed

-His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years; but it had begun to wear the signs of care and ___.

Front 36

Idol

Back 36

false god

-"Another ___ has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."

Front 37

Fraught

Back 37

filled with

-"That which promised happiness when we were one in heart, is ___ with misery now that we are two."

Front 38

Prodigiously

Back 38

enormously

-Awakening in the middle of a ___ tough snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again upon the stroke of One.

Front 39

Rampant

Back 39

rearing up like a horse; high-spirited

-"Not coming!" said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits; for he had been Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and had come home ___.

Front 40

Ubiquitous

Back 40

seeming to be everywhere at once

-Master Peter and the two ___ young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession.

Front 41

Heresy

Back 41

belief that differs from the established view

-Everybody had something to say about ti, but nobody said or thoguht it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat ___ to do so.

Front 42

Compound

Back 42

something made of several ingredients

-The ___ in the jug being tasted and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel-full of chestnuts on the fire.

Front 43

Adamant

Back 43

unyielding; stubborn

-"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not ___ forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is."

Front 44

Cant

Back 44

insincere or meaningless talk

ex: "shooting the breeze"

-"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked ___until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is."

Front 45

Exulted

Back 45

rejoiced

-But if you had judged from the numbers of people on their way to friendly gatherings, you might have thought that no one was at home to give them welcome when they got there, instead of every house expecting company, and piling up its fires half-chimney high. Blessings on it, how the Ghost ___!

Front 46

Desolation

Back 46

wasteland

-Down in the west the setting sun had left a streak of fiery red, which glared upon the ___ for an instant, like a sullen eye, and frowning lower, lower, lower yet, was lost in the thick gloom of darkeset night.

Front 47

Feint

Back 47

false appearance

-If you had fallen up against him, as some of them did, and stood there; he would have made a ___ of endeavoring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding; and would instantly have sidled off in the direction of the plump sister.

Front 48

Execrable (pronounced: ex EH cruh ble)

Back 48

detestable; indecent

-But when at last, he caught her; when, in spite of all her silken rustlings, and her rapid flutterings past him, he got her into a corner whence there was no escape; then his conduct was the most ___.

Front 49

Inexpressibly

Back 49

not able to be put into words

-At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of laughter; and was so ___ tickled, that he was obliged to get up off the sofa and stamp.

Front 50

Inaudible

Back 50

unable to be heard

Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so gay and light of heart that he would have pledged the unconscious company in return, and thanked them in an ___ speech, if the Ghost had given him time.

Front 51

Prostrate

Back 51

laid low; weak and helpless; defeated

Yellow, meager, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but ___, too, in their humility.

Front 52

Degradation

Back 52

lowering of quality or self-esteem

-No change, no ___, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.

Front 53

Shroud

Back 53

burial sheet

-It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky ___ there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.

Front 54

Pendulous

Back 54

hanging loosely

-"What has he done with his money?" asked a red-faced gentleman with a ___ excresence on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills of a turkey-cock.

Front 55

Trivial

Back 55

Commonplace and unimportant

Hint 55

Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit should attach importance to conversations apparently so ___, but feeling assured that they must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to consider what it was likely to be.

Front 56

Obscure

Back 56

Not well known

-They left the busy scene, and went into an ___ part of the town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognized its situation, and its bad repute.

Front 57

Infamous

Back 57

having a bad reputation

-Far in this den of ___ resort, there was a low-browed, beetling shop, below a pent-house roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal, were bought.

Front 58

Scrutinize

Back 58

examine carefully

-Secrets that few would like to ___ were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of currupted fat, and sepulchres of bones.

Front 59

Sepulchres

Back 59

tombs; places of burial

-Secrets that few would like to scrutinize were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of currupted fat, and ___ of bones.

Front 60

Flaunting

Back 60

in a showy manner

-While he did this, the woman who had already spoken threw her bundle on the floor and sat down in a ___ manner on a stool; crossing her elbows on her knees, and looking with a bold defiance at the other two.

Front 61

Defiance

Back 61

challenge to authority

-While he did this, the woman who had already spoken threw her bundle on the floor and sat down in a flaunting manner on a stool; crossing her elbows on her knees, and looking with a bold ___ at the other two.

Front 62

Plunder

Back 62

stolen goods

-But the gallantry of her friends would not allow of this; and the man in faded black, mounting the breach first, produced his ___.

Front 63

Detestation

Back 63

hatred

-As they sat grouped about their spoil, in the scanty light afforded by the old man's lamp, he viewed them with a ___ and disgust, which could hardly have been greater, though they had been obscene demons, marketing the corpse itself.

Front 64

Dumb

Back 64

unable to speak

-He recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed, and now he almost touched a bed: a bare, uncurtained bed: on which, beneath a ragged sheet, there lay a something covered up, which, though it was ___, announced itself in awful language.

Front 65

Dominion

Back 65

place of authority

-Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy ___!

Front 66

Odious

Back 66

disgusting; offensive

-But of the loved, revered, and honored head, thou canst not turn one hair to thy dread purposes, or make one feature ___.

Front 67

Immortal

Back 67

never dying

-And see his good deeds springing from the wound, to sow the world with life ___!

Front 68

Relenting

Back 68

becoming less severe or harsh

-"He is past ___," said her husband. "He is dead."

Front 69

Creditor

Back 69

person to whom money is owed

-"But before that time we shall be ready with the money; and even though we were not, it would be bad fortune indeed to find so merciless a ___ in his successor."

Front 70

Reconciled

Back 70

settled; accepting; joined together again

-He ___ to what had happened, and went down again quite happy.4ejkwlrnk

Front 71

Besought

Back 71

asked with strong emotion

-Indeed, the Spirit did not stay for anything, but went straight on, as to the end just now desired, until ___ by Scrooge to tarry for a moment.

Front 72

Inexorable

Back 72

inflexible; unrelenting; not letting up

-The ___ finger underwent no change.

Front 73

Repleted

Back 73

filled with

-Walled in by houses; overrun by grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation's death, not life; choked up with too much burying; far with ___ appetite.

Front 74

Alteration

Back 74

change or adjustment to original

-Holding up his hands in one last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an ___ in the Phantom's hood and dress.

Front 75

Intercedes

Back 75

acts to help others

-"Your nature ___ for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadow you have shown me, by an altered life!"

Front 76

Giddy

Back 76

dizzy; silly; excited

-"I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as ___ as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody!"

Front 77

Illustrious

Back 77

outstanding; remarkable

-Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most ___ laugh.

Front 78

Recompensed

Back 78

Rewarded

Front 79

Blithe (pronounced: with long i)

Back 79

carefree; cheerful

And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the ___ sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.

Front 80

Unanimity

Back 80

agreement by all; a consensus

Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful ___, won-der-ful happiness!

Front 81

Feign

Back 81

pretend

-"Hallo!" growled Scrooge in his accustomed voice as near as he could ___ it.

Front 82

Endeavor

Back 82

attempt to reach a goal

-"I'll raise your salary, and ___ to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!