Moccasin Trail Vocabulary

Chapter-by-chapter word lists for Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

Vocabulary Word List

Chapter One

• Flintlock - old fashioned rifle
• Wary - cautious
• Penetrate - go through
• Bourgeway - a term Jim applies to white settlers
• Cache - (verb) to hide; (noun) hidden objects
• Plew - beaver skin or pelt
• Pungent - sharp acid odor
• Vigilant - watchful, always alert
• Rivet - (verb) to fix or fasten
• Gaunt - thin
• Ingratiating - agreeable, wanting to please
• Valor - bravery
• Vivid - bright, bold
• Convalescence - illness, period of recovery
• Tethered - tied

Chapter Two

• Rustle - sounds from gentle movement
• Bland - minimal emotion or mood or flavor
• Shrewd - sharp, able
• Abruptly - quickly
• Exhilirating - exciting
• Wanderlust- desire to travel
• Dazzled - to impress with sparkling lightv
• Boisterous - loud, noisy
• Realist - a person who recognizes things as they really are
• Coarse - rough

Chapter Three

• Underscore - emphasize
• Drawl - slow manner of speech, infers lack of worry
• Possibles - few items carried by hunters/trappers that they might possibly need
• Docility - the state of being docile or easy to manage
• Primer donna - slang for prima donna, the star of a show
• Feigned - pretended
• Promontory - high-point overlooking land or water
• Gorge - river or canyon with steep, rocky sides
• Emigrants (also spelled immigrants) - people who have traveled from another location
• Ominous - warning of danger
• Wheeled - turn around quickly
• Hostile - angry
• Vulnerable - able to be hurt, opposite of strong or safe
• Abruptly - quickly
• Alien - foreign, from a different area
• Contempt - scorn, disgust at another person
• Recede- go away, decrease

Chapter Four

• Disheveled - messy, unkept
• Grit - strong spirit, nerve
• Jutting - extend outward
• Brusque - rough
• Investigate - examine, search
• Underestimate - consider less than it is
• Dreary - gloomy

Chapter Five

• Tendrils - spiral threads or hair
• Incredulously - not believable
• Scant - small amount
• Stifling -suffocating
• Brusquely - roughly
• Obliged - grateful, recognize a duty
• Emerged - came out
• Tether- tie
• Impassive - without feeling or passion
• Pulverized - pound into dust
• Lacerated - cut
• Concocted - mixed together
• Truce - agreement to be at peace

Chapter Six

• Gorge - a valley or river with steep, unclimbable cliffs on either side
• Gamble - an action with a possible bad effect
• Critters - slang for animals
• Gall - bitter; Galled - to be made bitter
• Summon - call
• Gutteral - low, hoarse noise from the throat
• Feeble - weak
• Remnant - what is left over
• Parfleche - animal hide, often made into a bag
• Stow - pack away to move
• Foofooraw - excessive, gaudy
• Perilous - dangerous
• Abruptly - suddenly
• Crude - primitive, simple
• Careen - tip sightly without falling over
• Dubious - doubtful, uncertain quality
• Solemnly - seriously
• Vicious - cruel, harsh
• Interior - inside
• Disintegrated - decay, fall into pieces
• Aslant - at a slanting angle
• Obstinate - stubborn
• Ceased - stopped
• Malicious - evil intent
• Veering - shifting, turning

Chapter Seven

• Ominously - dangerously
• Ferry - take people or objects across a lake or stream by boat or raft
• Dwindling - decreasing
• Emanciated - thin from starvation or disease
• Portage - a path to carry boats around a part of a river too dangerous to navigate
• Poultice - bandage soaked in herbs or medicine
• Impassive - without passion or emotion

Chapter Eight

• Demean - to put lower, insult
• Fleeting - briefly, quickly
• Lugubrious - acting gloomy for show
• Mirth - glee or cheery
• Ruefully - with sorrow or regret
• Reminisce - remember longingly
• Amble - walk slow, carelessly
• Tentatively - uncertainly
• Dubiously - doubtfully

Chapter Nine

• Surveyor - a person who surveys land to develop maps and property lines
• Reprieve - rest, break
• Belligerent - with anger
• Cavorting - prance, jump around
• Resolutely - with determination
• Surreptitiously - secretly
• Idly - carelessly, without purpose
• Belated - late
• Convulsively - with trembling
• Contagious - other people catch it
• Tedious - boring
• Wagers - bets

Chapter Ten

• Concocted - made
• Audible - able to be heard
• Wily - crafty, artful, capable
• Reverence - awe, honor
• Lithe - thin and flexible
• Indignant - feeling of displeasure or frustration
• Skylarking - playing, frolicking
• Tamper - try to change, meddle

Chapter Eleven

• Speculative - based on guesses
• Incredulous - difficult to believe
• Plagued - Dominated by illness or problems
• Ferocity - savage violence
• Semblance - appearance
Truce - agreement to be at peace

Chapter Twelve

• Attentively - with attention
• Dubious - with doubt
• Ferocity - savage violence
• Junket - outing, short trip
• Curvetted - leap done by a rearing horse
• Surge - move quicky with a rush
• Concealed - hid
• Sentries - guards
• Alight - lit up
• Exertion - hard work
• Elation - state of joy, being elated
• Rivet - hold in place
• Rigid - stiff

Chapter Thirteen

• Stave - to break
• Apishamore - blanket between saddle and horse's skin
• Cached - hidden
• Obstinate - stubborn
• Perilous - dangerous
• Wary - cautious of danger
• Eluded - avoided
• Wryly - with scorn or bitterness
• Gully - valley or ravine that fills with running rain water
• Luminous - lit, glowing
• Vague - unclear
• Ricochet - zigzag movement of a bullet or moving object that bounce off surfaces
• Summon - call, find
• Scrutinize - carefully examine

Chapter Fourteen

• Inarticulate - unable to speak clearly
• Tremulous - with fear or trembling
• Recital - giving a list of facts, reciting information
• Involuntary - not willingly or by one's decision
• Grimace - frown
• Relunctantly - not willingly, with reluctance
• Oblivion - complete forgetfullness, unaware
• Dominated - was in control, ruled
• Casualness - without importance
• Minutely - in small detail
• Abrupt - sudden
• Amiable - friendly
• Bemused - confused but humored
• Mosey - go someplace slowly
• Resolute - determined, resolved

Chapter Fifteen

• Gradual - moving in small degrees
• Raucously - low, harsh sound
• Temperate - moderate
• Swath - strip
• Langour - lack of energy, sleepiness
• Tussling - wrestling
• Forlorn - sad, despondant
• Vaulted - jumped over
• Ellusive - hard to catch
• Indelibly - unable to erase
• Sullen - sour with irritation
• Ecstatic - wild with happiness

Chapter Sixteen

• Incoherent - difficult to follow, without logic or coherence
• Curtail - prevented or decreased
• Parry - pass back and forth, as in sword-fighting or ping-pong
• Lounge - resting, not working
• Shrewd - sharp, not missing anything
• Redolent - filled with odors that bring back memories
• Lithe - thin and flexible
• Burgeoning - growing

Chapter Seventeen

• Declivity - downward slope
• Rigid - stiff
• Obscured - hidden from sight
• Obliterate - completely destroyed and removed

Chapter Eighteen

• Luminous - reflecting light
• Cove - a curved cavity in a hill or mountain
• Concealment - hiding place
• Sentries - guards
• Sprawl - lie with limbs stretched out
• Lee - a side sheltered from wind or rain
• Gingerly - cautiously
• Wraith - ghost-like figure
• Taut - tight
• Guttural - low sound from the throat
• Interior - inside
• Unmanned - (in this context) not under control
• Incredulous - unbelievable
• Stifle - muffle, cut off sound
• Erupt - burst out
• Truss - tie up with rope
• Disillusion - loss of hope
• Malevolent - cruel, harsh
• Torpor - sleepiness, slowness
• Hoist - lift up
• Dispose - get rid of

Chapter Nineteen

• Babble - unintelligent talk of multiple people
• Haggard - unkept, messy
• Detach - break away
• Inquisitive - questioning
• Inflexible - unbending, unchanging
• Shorn - shaved or cut
• Illuminating - lighting
• Optimistic - positive, hopeful

Buy the Moccasin Trail Unit Study Guide

Student Guide AND Teacher's Answer Key Included
$2.99 Download - 113 pages

Includes student pages, answer key, map activities, vocabulary lists, and literary analysis.

Moccasin Trail Pages

Our pages for Eloise Jarvis McGraw's novel, Moccasin Trail.