Lit

Front 1

Intrepid

Back 1

adj: resolutely fearless; dauntless: an intrepid explorer.

Front 2

coddle

Back 2

v: to treat tenderly; nurse or tend indulgently; pamper: to coddle children when they're sick.

Front 3

depravity

Back 3

n: 1. the state of being depraved.
2. The state of being depraved or corrupted; a vitiated state of moral character; general badness of character; wickedness of mind or heart; absence of religious feeling and principle.

Front 4

blithe

Back 4

adj: 1. joyous, merry, or gay in disposition; glad; cheerful: Everyone loved her for her blithe spirit.
2. without thought or regard; carefree; heedless: a blithe indifference to anyone's feelings.

Front 5

spurn

Back 5

v: 1. to reject with disdain; scorn.
2. to treat with contempt; despise.
3. to kick or trample with the foot.
n: 5. disdainful rejection.
6. contemptuous treatment.
7. a kick.

Front 6

culpable

Back 6

adj: deserving blame or censure; blameworthy.

Front 7

pervade

Back 7

v: to become spread throughout all parts of: Spring pervaded the air.

Front 8

imbibe

Back 8

v: to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink: He imbibed great quantities of iced tea.
2. to absorb or soak up, as water, light, or heat: Plants imbibe moisture from the soil.
3. to take or receive into the mind, as knowledge, ideas, or the like: to imbibe a sermon; to imbibe beautiful scenery.

Front 9

venerable

Back 9

adj: 1. commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character: a venerable member of Congress.
2. a title for someone proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church to have attained the first degree of sanctity or of an Anglican archdeacon.
3. (of places, buildings, etc.) hallowed by religious, historic, or other lofty associations: the venerable halls of the abbey.
4. impressive or interesting because of age, antique appearance, etc.: a venerable oak tree.
5. extremely old or obsolete; ancient: a venerable automobile.

Front 10

visage

Back 10

n: 1. the face, usually with reference to shape, features, expression, etc.; countenance.
2. aspect; appearance.

Front 11

taciturn

Back 11

adj: 1. inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation.
2. dour, stern, and silent in expression and manner.

Front 12

abeyance

Back 12

n: 1. temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension: Let's hold that problem in abeyance for a while.
2. Law. a state or condition of real property in which title is not as yet vested in a known titleholder: an estate in abeyance.

Front 13

effrontery

Back 13

n: 1. shameless or impudent boldness; barefaced audacity: She had the effrontery to ask for two free samples.
2. an act or instance of this.

Front 14

levity

Back 14

n: 1. lightness of mind, character, or behavior; lack of appropriate seriousness or earnestness.
2. an instance or exhibition of this.
3. fickleness.
4. lightness in weight.

Front 15

preclude

Back 15

v: 1. to prevent the presence, existence, or occurrence of; make impossible: The insufficiency of the evidence precludes a conviction.
2. to exclude or debar from something: His physical disability precludes an athletic career for him.

Front 16

redress

Back 16

n: 1. the setting right of what is wrong: redress of abuses.
2. relief from wrong or injury.
3. compensation or satisfaction for a wrong or injury.
v: 4. to set right; remedy or repair (wrongs, injuries, etc.).
5. to correct or reform (abuses, evils, etc.).
6. to remedy or relieve (suffering, want, etc.).
7. to adjust evenly again, as a balance.

Front 17

burly

Back 17

adj: 1. large in bodily size; stout; sturdy.
2. bluff; brusque.

Front 18

debase

Back 18

v: 1. to reduce in quality or value; adulterate: They debased the value of the dollar.
2. to lower in rank, dignity, or significance: He wouldn't debase himself by doing manual labor.

Front 19

finesse

Back 19

n: 1. extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.
2. skill in handling a difficult or highly sensitive situation; adroit and artful management: exceptional diplomatic finesse.

Front 20

amalgam

Back 20

n: an alloy of mercury with another metal or metals.
2. an alloy that consists chiefly of silver mixed with mercury and variable amounts of other metals and is used as a dental filling.
3. a rare mineral, an alloy of silver and mercury, occurring as silver-white crystals or grains.
4. a mixture or combination: His character is a strange amalgam of contradictory traits.

Front 21

reticent

Back 21

adj: 1. disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reserved.
2. reluctant or restrained.

Front 22

captious

Back 22

adj; 1. apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.
2. proceeding from a faultfinding or caviling disposition: He could never praise without adding a captious remark.
3. apt or designed to ensnare or perplex, esp. in argument: captious questions.

Front 23

loll

Back 23

v: 1. to recline or lean in a relaxed, lazy, or indolent manner; lounge: to loll on a sofa.
2. to hang loosely; droop; dangle: The dog stood in the heat with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Front 24

finite

Back 24

adj: 1. having bounds or limits; not infinite; measurable.
2. subject to limitations or conditions, as of space, time, circumstances, or the laws of nature: man's finite existence on earth.

Front 25

reprieve

Back 25

v: 1. to delay the impending punishment or sentence of (a condemned person).
2. to relieve temporarily from any evil.
n: 3. a respite from impending punishment, as from execution of a sentence of death.
4. a warrant authorizing this.
5. any respite or temporary relief.

Front 26

gregarious

Back 26

adj: 1. fond of the company of others; sociable.
2. living in flocks or herds, as animals.
3. Botany. growing in open clusters or colonies; not matted together.
4. pertaining to a flock or crowd.

Front 27

engross

Back 27

v: 1. to occupy completely, as the mind or attention; absorb: Their discussion engrossed his attention. She is engrossed in her work.
2. to write or copy in a clear, attractive, large script or in a formal manner, as a public document or record: to engross a deed.
3. to acquire the whole of (a commodity), in order to control the market; monopolize.

Front 28

privation

Back 28

n: 1. lack of the usual comforts or necessaries of life: His life of privation began to affect his health.
2. an instance of this.
3. the act of depriving.
4. the state of being deprived.

Front 29

fulminate

Back 29

v: 1. to explode with a loud noise; detonate.
2. to issue denunciations or the like (usually fol. by against): The minister fulminated against legalized vice.

Front 30

primordial

Back 30

adj: 1. constituting a beginning; giving origin to something derived or developed; original; elementary: primordial forms of life.
2. Embryology. first formed.
3. pertaining to or existing at or from the very beginning: primordial matter.